Three Obscurities from the Borderlands

The three authors whose works appears in this collection each wrote in German; but none of their homelands are today located in German-speaking countries. Werner Bergengruen's Riga, which was located in Russia, is now the capitol of Latvia. Both Adalbert Stifter's and Maria von Ebner-Eschenbach's birthplaces are now contained in the Czech Republic. We cite these as authors of the borderlands, for though while spending their adult lives either within Germany, or in the midst of the German-speaking part of Austria-Hungary, each was born into a world of ethnic diversity on the fringes of the German-speaking world. Each of these authors is also largely unknown and uncelebrated in the English-speaking world, despite a portion of their work being available in translation. We have attempted with these translations into English to bring additional attention to these fine and worthy authors, to lift them out of the obscurity in which for the English-speaking world they sit.