In Kropsberg Keep and Other Stories - Ralph Adams Cram - E-Book
SONDERANGEBOT

In Kropsberg Keep and Other Stories E-Book

Ralph Adams Cram

0,0
1,99 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €

oder
-100%
Sammeln Sie Punkte in unserem Gutscheinprogramm und kaufen Sie E-Books und Hörbücher mit bis zu 100% Rabatt.
Mehr erfahren.
Beschreibung

In Ralph Adams Cram's *In Kropsberg Keep and Other Stories*, the reader is transported to a hauntingly atmospheric world that deftly intertwines gothic elements with philosophical reflections on human existence. Cram's prose is both lyrical and evocative, characterized by its rich descriptions and deep psychological insights, inviting the reader to ponder the complexities of identity and morality. Set against a backdrop of ancient castles and shadowy landscapes, these tales offer an exploration of the uncanny that resonates with the traditions of 19th-century gothic literature while infusing modern existential themes. Cram, a prominent architect and writer, showcased an acute sensitivity to the artistic dimensions of both literature and space. His extensive travels and deep engagement with European history profoundly influenced his storytelling, allowing him to infuse his narratives with a palpable sense of place and time. The interplay of architecture and narrative is apparent, as Cram often reflects on the interplay of structures and human emotion, informed by his own understanding of the built environment as a vessel for human experience. *In Kropsberg Keep and Other Stories* is a captivating collection that is essential for readers interested in the gothic genre or those who appreciate literature that probes the deeper philosophical questions of life. Cram's masterful storytelling and unique perspective will not only captivate the imagination but also stimulate profound reflection on the nature of reality and illusion.

Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:

EPUB
Bewertungen
0,0
0
0
0
0
0
Mehr Informationen
Mehr Informationen
Legimi prüft nicht, ob Rezensionen von Nutzern stammen, die den betreffenden Titel tatsächlich gekauft oder gelesen/gehört haben. Wir entfernen aber gefälschte Rezensionen.



Ralph Adams Cram

In Kropsberg Keep and Other Stories

Published by Good Press, 2022
EAN 4066338075734

Table of Contents

In Kropfsberg Keep
Notre Dame des Eaux
No. 252 Rue M. le Prince.
The Dead Valley
THE END

In Kropfsberg Keep

Table of Contents

To the traveller from Innsbrück to Munich, up the lovely valley of the silver Inn, many castles appear, one after another, each on its beetling cliff or gentle hill,--appear and disappear, melting into the dark fir trees that grow so thickly on every side,--Laneck, Lichtwer, Ratholtz, Tratzberg, Matzen, Kropfsberg, gathering close around the entrance to the dark and wonderful Zillerthal.

But to us--Tom Rendel and myself--there are two castles only: not the gorgeous and princely Ambras, nor the noble old Tratzberg, with its crowded treasures of solemn and splendid mediævalism; but little Matzen, where eager hospitality forms the new life of a never-dead chivalry, and Kropfsberg, ruined, tottering, blasted by fire and smitten with grievous years,--a dead thing, and haunted,--full of strange legends, and eloquent of mystery and tragedy.

We were visiting the von C--s at Matzen, and gaining our first wondering knowledge of the courtly, cordial castle life in the Tyrol,--of the gentle and delicate hospitality of noble Austrians.

Brixleg had ceased to be but a mark on a map, and had become a place of rest and delight, a home for homeless wanderers on the face of Europe, while Schloss Matzen was a synonym for all that was gracious and kindly and beautiful in life. The days moved on in a golden round of riding and driving and shooting: down to Landl and Thiersee for chamois, across the river to the magic Achensec, up the Zillerthal, across the Schmerner Joch, even to the railway station at Steinach. And in the evenings after the late dinners in the upper hall where the sleepy hounds leaned against our chairs looking at us with suppliant eyes, in the evenings when the fire was dying away in the hooded fireplace in the library, stories. Stories, and legends, and fairy tales, while the stiff old portraits changed countenance constantly under the flickering firelight, and the sound of the drifting Inn came softly across the meadows far below.

If ever I tell the Story of Schloss Matzen, then will be the time to paint the too inadequate picture of this fair oasis in the desert of travel and tourists and hotels; but just now it is Kropfsberg the Silent that is of greater importance, for it was only in Matzen that the story was told by Fräulein E--, the gold-haired niece of Frau von C--, one hot evening in July, when we were sitting in the great west window of the drawing-room after a long ride up the Stallenthal.

All the windows were open to catch the faint wind, and we had sat for a long time watching the Otzethaler Alps turn rose-color over distant Innsbrück, then deepen to violet as the sun went down and the white mists rose slowly until Lichtwer and Laneck and Kropfsberg rose like craggy islands in a silver sea.

And this is the story as Fräulein E---told it to us,--the Story of Kropfsberg Keep.

A great many years ago, soon after my grandfather died, and Matzen came to us, when I was a little girl, and so young that I remember nothing of the affair except as something dreadful that frightened me very much, two young men who had studied painting with my grandfather came down to Brixleg from Munich, partly to paint, and partly to amuse themselves,--"ghost-hunting" as they said, for they were very sensible young men and prided themselves on it, laughing at all kinds of "superstition," and particularly at that form which believed in ghosts and feared them.

They had never seen a real ghost, you know, and they belonged to a certain set of people who believed nothing they had not seen themselves,--which always seemed to me very conceited.

Well, they knew that we had lots of beautiful castles here in the "lower valley," and they assumed, and rightly, that every castle has at least one ghost story connected with it, so they chose this as their hunting ground, only the game they sought was ghosts, not chamois. Their plan was to visit every place that was supposed to be haunted, and to meet every reputed ghost, and prove that it really was no ghost at all.

There was a little inn down in the village then, kept by an old man named Peter Rosskopf, and the two young men made this their headquarters. The very first night they began to draw from the old innkeeper all that he knew of legends and ghost stories connected with Brixleg and its castles, and as he was a most garrulous old gentleman he filled them with the wildest delight by his stories of the ghosts of the castles about the mouth of the Zillerthal. Of course the old man believed every word he said, and you can imagine his horror and amazement when, after telling his guests the particularly blood-curdling story of Kropfsberg and its haunted keep, the elder of the two boys, whose surname I have forgotten, but whose Christian name was Rupert, calmly said, "Your story is most satisfactory: we will sleep in Kropfsberg Keep to-morrow night, and you must provide us with all that we may need to make ourselves comfortable."

The old man nearly fell into the fire. "What for a blockhead are you?" he cried, with big eyes.

"The keep is haunted by Count Albert's ghost, I tell you!"

"That is why we are going there to-morrow night; we wish to make the acquaintance of Count Albert."