SOURCE: Pickar, Gertrud Bauer. “Narrative Perspective and the Narrative Presence in Droste's Words.” In Ambivalence Transcended: A Study of the Writings of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, pp. 163-234. Columbia: Camden House, 1997.

In the following excerpt, Pickar looks at Droste-Hülshoff's experimentation with narrative styles, suggesting that in giving up some of the ambiguity that marks some of her best-known work, her more coherent prose pieces hold less literary interest. In the context of a larger study on Droste-Hülshoff's developing mastery of an “ambivalent” voice, Pickar highlights the author's efforts to strike a balance between narrative control and narrative energy.

Westphälische Schilderungen Aus Einer Westphälischen Feder and Bei Uns Zu Lande Auf Dem Lande

“Es ist kein Roman, es ist unser Land”

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Die Judenbuche was Droste's last prose work to be marked by a fluctuating narrative perspective and shifting narrative stance. Droste's other prose writings—Westph...