Johanna spyri heidi biography of abraham
She is the most famous Swiss child. Heidi has enchanted generations of readers with her love of life, her independence and her thirst for freedom.
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UP THE MOUNTAIN TO GRANDFATHER
COPYRIGHT 1916 BY
Whitman Publishing Co.
RACINE · · CHICAGO
INTRODUCTION
There is here presented to the reader a careful translation of "Heidi," one of the most popular works of the great Swiss authoress, Madam Johanna Spyri. As particulars of her career are not easily gathered, we may here state that Johanna Heusser was born at Zurich, June 12, 1827. She wrote nothing in her youth. She was happily married to the Advocate Spyri. Later, the Franco-Prussian war evoked from her a book devised for a charitable purpose, and the success of this volume revealed her future. She died at her home in Zurich in 1891. Her fame has spread to all countries, and her many books have delighted not only the children for whom they were so artfully written, but they have become favorites with lovers of children as well.
As to "Heidi," itself, wherever mountains are seen or read about, the simple account of the early life of the Swiss child, amid the beauties of her passionately-loved home, will be a favorite book for younger readers and those who seek their good.
Johanna Spyri lived amidst the scenes she so gracefully described. In all her stories she shows an underlying desire to preserve her young readers alike from misunderstanding and the mistaken kindness that frequently hinders the happiness and natural development of their lives and characters.
Among her many works are the following: " Heidi is a beloved children’s book. Like many books written for children, it also contains material suitable for adults. In it, Johanna Spyri addresses some interesting religious questions. Neither children nor adults reading the book have to be aware of these questions to enjoy the story. But for adults, the problems the questions bring up can be fascinating. In the first chapter of Heidi, Johanna Spyri provides critical background information about Heidi’s grandfather. She reveals it in a conversation between Dete, Heidi’s aunt, and her friend, Barbel, as the two walk part of the way together up the Alm to Heidi’s grandfather’s hut. Heidi is absent, having wandered off with Peter, a local boy who tends goats. Barbel is curious about Heidi’s grandfather. The villagers fear and dislike the Alm-Uncle, as they call him, partly because of how he looks. He has a fierce countenance, big bushy eyebrows, a wild beard. But they also fear him because of his behavior, gruff and ill-mannered. Rumors abound. Dete sets the record straight, as best she can, for Barbel. As a young man, the grandfather, the elder of two brothers, fell in with the wrong crowd and ran through the family’s fortune in short order, spending most of it on drinking and gambling. His younger brother descended into beggary. His parents, overcome by grief at their elder son’s misdeeds, died in close succession. With nothing left to him in his hometown, not even a decent reputation, he traveled to Naples with soldiers. There is no news of him for several years. But then, he returned unexpectedly with a half-grown son named Tobias. Talk of his having killed a man in a brawl in Naples followed closely on his return. He tried, unsuccessfully, to place Tobias in the care of relatives. But no one would have anything to do with him or his son. He shook the town’s dust off his feet and moved with his son to Dörfli, a small village halfway up the Alm, where Dete grew up and where Barbel lives. Romanticism is a literary, artistic, and cultural movement of the 19th century that came as a response to the Industrial Revolution and the ensuing movement of people from the country to the cities. Romantic art and literature emphasize the importance of the individual and elevate nature as a source of comfort, inspiration, and spiritual renewal, proposing that the natural world provides a place for humans to return to the innocence of childhood. In her novel Heidi, Johanna Spyri creates a strong sense of place with vivid descriptions of the majestic mountains, verdant green pastures, and towering trees that mark the sylvan Alpine landscape. The vistas inspire awe and reverence in Heidi from the moment she arrives, and she comes to call the mountains, trees, and pastures home, just as much as the hut she shares with Grandfather. Through Heidi’s mystical connection to her pastoral home and its healing powers on all who experience it, Spyri draws a sharp contrast in city life and asserts the vitalness of living in close connection to nature for both physical and spiritual health. Grandfather’s life moves with the rhythms of the natural world. His day begins by tending to the goats and gathering their milk, which serves as their primary source of food. His carpentry work also keeps him close to nature, as he harvests wood from the trees nearby to fashion into furniture and other usable items. Heidi easily assimilates to his simple, yet deeply fulfilling agrarian lifestyle and looks forward to her daily cups of goat’s milk and toasted cheese sandwiches, and even treasures her rustic bed made from hay. She also enjoys watching Grandfather care for the goats and marvels at his carpentry skills. Beyond the bounty nature offers in food and provision, Heidi develops a profound spiritual connection with the landscape of her new home. She falls so deeply in love with the wildflowers that Themes
The Romanticism of Nature and Its Power to Heal and Restore