Enciclopedia Cattolica

GOTTHELF, JEREMIAS

Volume VI · p. 587 · 1951

English translation · Testo originale italiano

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

GOTTHELF, JEREMIAS. - Pseudonym of Albert Bitzius. Swiss novelist, b. at Murten (Fribourg) on 4 Oct. 1797, d. at Lützelflüh (Bern) on 22 Oct. 1854.

A Protestant pastor, he sought to elevate his people through his pen, revealing himself a poet, although devoid of artistic ambition or aesthetic aims. He was the creator of a kind of realistic epic, with characters of rare vividness, which place him, in short novels, among the great writers (masterly, for example, Elsi, die seltsame Magd, 1843). Among his countless novels may be recalled: Bauernspiegel oder Lebensgeschichte des J. G. (from which he took his pseudonym), 1837; Leiden u. Freuden eines Schulmeisters

(1838), Die Armennot (1840), Sylvestertraum (1842), and the masterpiece: Uli der Knecht (1841), followed by Uli der Pächter (1849).

BIBL.: Works: Gesammelte Schriften, 24 vols., Berlin 1855-1858, critical ed. by F. Hunziker in 26 vols., ibid. 1811-25; anthology edited by J. Mumbauer, Fribourg 1925. Studies: F. Rudolf, Die Welt des Schönen bei J. G., Bern 1906; G. Tobler, J. G. u. die Schule, ibid. 1907; A. Bartels, J. G. s Leben u. Schaffen, Leipzig 1908; O. Hunziker, J. G., Frauenfeld 1927; W. Muschg, G. Die Geheimnisse des Erzählers, Munich 1931; W. Gunther, Der ewige G., Erlenbach 1934; K. Guggisberg, J. G. Christentum und Leben, Zurich 1939; W. Muschg, G. s Persönlichkeit: Erinnerungen von Zeitgenossen, Basel 1944. Giovanni Guerra
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“GOTTHELF, JEREMIAS.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI (1951), p. 587. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/gotthelf-jeremias.