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 with his pen, revealing himself a poet, though averse to artistic ambition or aesthetic aims. He was the maker of a sort of realistic epic, with characters of rare vividness, which cause him to be counted, in the short stories of brief scope, among the great writers (masterly, for example, Elsi, die seltsame Magd, 1843). Of his innumerable novels, these are remembered: 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).

Bibliography9 works

BIBL.: Works: Gesammelte Schriften, 24 vols., Berlin 1855-1858, critical edition 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

@incollection{ec6_gotthelf_jeremias, author = {Guerra, Giovanni}, title = {Gotthelf, jeremias}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gotthelf-jeremias} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Gotthelf, Jeremias

About this entry