Heidi (1899)

Heidi, the Swiss dialect diminutive of Adelheid, is in itself an attractive name for a book; but each of the two parts into which the German story is divided bears a rather long and cumbrous explanatory title besides the subtitle.^[1]

Judged from a critical standpoint, the literary style of the original is far from perfect; the sentences are frequently prolix, carelessly constructed, and full of repetitions. Nevertheless, in spite of technical flaws, it is a classic for children. It is true to life, sprightly and at the same time serious, sincere and yet overflowing with healthful innocent mirth, often tempered with a tender pathos which is akin to poetic sentiment, and yet perfectly free from any trace of sentimentality. It is permeated with the deepest love for nature, but the descriptions are never wearisome, and it breathes a beautiful religious spirit, but it is the simple religion of childhood unwitting of denominational differences.

​The conversations are vivacious and natural, and the primitive life on the Alpine pastures is happily contrasted with the more conventional existence of the wealthy city home, into which the little unsophisticated mountain maiden comes like a breath of upper air. Her experiences are charmingly portrayed, and one entirely forgets that one is not reading a transcript from real life, so vivid is the characterization, so perfect the realism, so consistent the narration. The cultured German merchant, his serene and patient little invalid daughter, his wise and energetic mother, the precise and formal governess, the pert chambermaid, the kind-hearted serving man, the noble and generous doctor, Heidi and her much misunderstood but magnificent old grandfather, the Alm-Uncle, the village pastor, the blind old woman in her shaky hovel, and her dull and devoted grandson, Peterli, and, last but not least, the carefully individualized goats are all drawn with an unerring hand.

The author began her literary activity rather late in life and was led to writing stories for children through the solicitations of a friend. Her first book was published in 1870, during the time of the Franco-Prussian War, and the proceeds of it were given in aid of the wounded. All her earlier works were anonymous. "Heidi's Years of Learning and Travel" was the third in the series of Stories for Children and those that love Children, which began in 1879 and has continued till the present time. It finally became known that the author of these charming tales was the wife of ​the town clerk of Zürich. She came of literary antecedents. Her father was a well-known and very active physician of the little mountain village of Hirzel in Canton Zürich; her mother was the popular poet Meta Heusser. Her home was an unusually brilliant social centre, where the young girl met many of the celebrities of the time; it was also overflowing with brothers and sisters, so that she had abundant opportunities to know child life at first hand.

Johanna Heusser was born on the twelfth of June, 1829, and in 1852 she married her former schoolmate, the Rechtskonsulent, or legal adviser, Bernhard Spyri. On his death in December, 1884, she published a tribute to his memory. Since her first book was written there have been few years when some new work from her pen has not appeared, and she has been long recognized as one of the world's favorite writers for children. Her stories have been translated into various languages, and some of them are printed in raised letters for the blind. The Swiss Schuldirector, J. V. Widemann, president of the Commission for Children's Literature, wrote in the Universal Swiss Teachers' Journal an article declaring Frau Spyri to be the best of contemporary women writers for the young, and adds that he knows of no man who can be compared with her.

The general title of her stories indicates the scope of her work. There are children's books which only children like, and such books are undesirable for children. It may be safely said that not one of the few great books—the so-called classics for the young—appeals ​any more strongly to those for whom they were written than to their elders. This is certainly the case with "Heidi," which a healthy appetite will not find cloying even after many readings. The story has struck the popular heart, and many impressions and several editions, the later ones with charming illustrations, have been published.

The present translation has been carefully made with the idea of preserving as far as possible the homely simplicity and vivacity of the original, the charm of its absolute sincerity and wholesome humor. It cannot fail to appeal to every reader, and every reader will be sure to recommend it to an increasing circle of friends. It is thus that great books become firmly established in the affections of a people.