"The Clearing is at once a point of departure and a point of return. Reminiscent of the Austrian prose stylist Adalbert Stifter, Peter Steiner lovingly describes seemingly insignificant details of a young boy's life and environment. The narrator returns from his worldly travels as a mature man who now, in a single day, reconstructs his youth in the presence of the deserted inn where he first encountered the world."--BOOK JACKET.