"On the Marble Cliffs" by Ernst Jünger
Set in a world of its own, Ernst Jünger’s On the Marble Cliffs is both a mesmerizing work of fantasy and an allegory of the advent of fascism. The narrator of the book and his brother, Otho, live in an ancient house carved out of the great marble cliffs that overlook the Marina, a great and beautiful lake that is surrounded by a peaceable land of ancient cities and temples and flourishing vineyards. To the north of the cliffs are the grasslands of the Campagna, occupied by herders. North of that, the great forest begins. There the brutal Head Forester rules, abetted by the warrior bands of the Mauretanians.
The brothers have seen all too much of war. Their youth was consumed in fighting. Now they have resolved to live quietly, studying botany, adding to their herbarium, consulting the books in their library, involving themselves in the timeless pursuit of knowledge. However, rumors of dark deeds begin to reach them in their sanctuary. Agents of the Head Forester are infiltrating the peaceful provinces he views with contempt, while peace itself, it seems, may only be a mask for heedlessness.
Tess Lewis’s new translation of Jünger’s sinister fable of 1939 brings out all of this legendary book’s dark luster.
Praise
On the Marble Cliffs might be called Jünger’s descent into the maelstrom, a record of terror seen and survived. . . . An allegory that does not moralize, its hermeticism is inviolable and inimitable.
—Thomas R. Nevin, Ernst Jünger and Germany: Into the Abyss, 1914–1945
On the Marble Cliffs is a great book and virtually no one I’ve ever mentioned it to has read it.
—W.S. Merwin
Author
Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) was born in Heidelberg and early on developed a fascination with war. As a teenager, he ran away to join the French Foreign Legion, then enlisted in the German Army of the first day of World War I. Jünger’s first book, Storm of Steel, provided a graphic account of his experiences. Jünger kept his distance from the Nazis, and his 1939 novel On the Marble Cliffs presented an allegorical account of the destructive nature of Hitler’s rule. One of the most controversial of twentieth-century German writers, Jünger was the recipient of numerous literary prizes, and continued his career as a writer until his death at the age of 102.
