Gustav Freytag (; 13 July 1816 – 30 April 1895) was a German novelist and playwright.
Life
Freytag was born in
Kreuzburg (Kluczbork) in
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
. After attending the school at
Oels (Oleśnica), he studied
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
at the universities of
Breslau (Wrocław) and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, and in 1838 received his degree with a dissertation titled ''De initiis poeseos scenicae apud Germanos''
(''Über die Anfänge der dramatischen Poesie bei den Germanen'', English: ''On the Beginnings of Dramatic Poetry among the Germans'').
[Harald Bachmann: ''Gustav Freytag (1816–1895)''. In: ''Coburger Geschichtsblätter.'' 3/1995, Historische Gesellschaft Coburg e. V., S. 121–122] He became member of the student corps ''Borussia zu Breslau''.
In 1839, he settled in
Breslau, as ''
Privatdozent
''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...
'' in German language and
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, but devoted his principal attention to writing for the stage, achieving considerable success with the comedy drama ''Die Brautfahrt, oder Kunz von der Rosen'' (1844). This was followed by a volume of unimportant poems, ''In Breslau'' (1845), and the dramas ''Die Valentine'' (1846) and ''Graf Waldemar'' (1847). He at last attained a prominent position by his comedy,
The Journalists (1852), one of the best German comedies of the 19th century.
[
In 1847, he moved to Berlin, and in the following year took over, in conjunction with Julian Schmidt, the editorship of '' Die Grenzboten'', a weekly journal which, founded in 1841, now became the leading organ of German and Austrian liberalism. Freytag helped to conduct it until 1861, and again from 1867 till 1870, when for a short time he edited a new periodical, ''Im neuen Reich''.][ In 1863 he developed what is known as Freytag's Pyramid.
]
Freytag died in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
on 30 April 1895.
Works
''Debit and Credit''
Freytag's literary fame was made universal by the publication in 1855 of his novel, ''Soll und Haben'' (''Debit and Credit
Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a credit e ...
''), which was translated into almost all European languages.[ It was translated into English by ]Georgiana Harcourt
Georgiana Charlotte Frances Harcourt (1807IGI: Baptism: 27 July 1807 Georgiana Charlotte Frances Harcourt at Parish Church, Dalston, Cumberland, England to Edward Harcourt and Anne Leveson-Gower – 29 October 1886 Burkes Peerage ) was the daugh ...
in 1857.
It was hailed as one of the best German novels and praised for its sturdy but unexaggerated realism. Its main purpose is the recommendation of the German middle class as the soundest element in the nation, but it also has a more directly patriotic intention in the contrast it draws between the supposedly homely virtues of the German, while presenting in negative light Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...
and Jews.[ In the novel a Jewish merchant is presented as a villain and threat to Germany. German colonists are presented as "superior" to "wild", "inferior" and "uncivilized" Poles who are also shown sometimes in racist terms. The novel affirmed the claim of German "masters" to seize the land of the "weaker race" justified by supposedly "superior" German culture. The novel applied blatant racism to Slavs while focusing on Poles; author stated that Poles have "no culture" and are unable to create civilization. Freytag also claimed that Poles will only become proper human beings through German rule and colonization, and giving up their language and culture. Soll und Haben set an example for a body of colonial literature about the "eastern marches" and also started a public-reinterpretation of the Ostsiedlung, which was now presented as historical mission of the Germans (''Kulturträger''), legitimizing continued occupation of Polish areas and suppressions of Polish population.
]
''Die verlorene Handschrift''
At the duke's request, Freytag was attached to the staff of the Crown Prince of Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, and was present at the Battles of Wörth and Sedan. Before this, he had published another novel, ''Die verlorene Handschrift'' (1864), in which he endeavoured to do for German university life what ''Soll und Haben'' had done for commercial life. The hero is a young German professor, who is so wrapped up in his search for a manuscript by Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
that he is oblivious to an impending tragedy in his domestic life. The book was, however, less successful than its predecessor.
''Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit''
Between 1859 and 1867, Freytag published in five volumes ''Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit'', a work on popular lines, illustrating the history and manners of Germany. In 1872, he began a work with a similar patriotic purpose, ''Die Ahnen'', a series of historical romances in which he unfolds the history of a German family from the earliest times to the middle of the 19th century. This series comprises the following novels:[
#''Ingo und Ingraban'' (1872)
#''Das Nest der Zaunkönige'' (1874)
#''Die Brüder vom deutschen Hause'' (1875)
#''Marcus König'' (1876)
#''Die Geschwister'' (1878)
#''Aus einer kleinen Stadt'' (1880).
]
Other works
Freytag's other works include:
* ''Die Technik des Dramas
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicond ...
'' (1863), in which he explained a system for dramatic structure
Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and scholar ...
, later named '' Freytag's Pyramid''. Published in an English translation as ''Freytag's Technique of the Drama: An Exposition of Dramatic Composition and Art'' in 1894.
* a biography of the Baden statesman Karl Mathy
Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Mathy (March 17, 1807 – February 3, 1868), was a Badensian statesman.
He was born at Mannheim. He studied law and politics at Heidelberg, and entered the Baden government department of finance in 1829. His sympathy w ...
(1869)
* an autobiography (''Erinnerungen aus meinen Leben'', 1887)
* his ''Gesammelte Aufsätze'', chiefly reprinted from the ''Grenzboten'' (1888); ''Der Kronprinz wed die deutsche Kaiserkrone''; and ''Erinnerungsbidtter'' (1889)
* a biography o
''Martin Luther''
1896
Political activity
Freytag authored anti-Polish pamphlets. In 1863 Freytag commented that if Poles ever get free from Russian rule in Russian Partition, then Germany should conquer them, stating "We shall make their land German" and that the Poles are facing not the German government but "the entire German nation".[''Literary and cultural images of a nation without a state:
the case of nineteenth-century Poland''. By Agnieszka Barbara Nance. pp. 45–46.]
Being a native of a province which in his mind owed everything to the Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...
, he was an earnest champion of Prussian hegemony over Germany. His powerful advocacy of this idea in his ''Grenzboten'' gained him the friendship of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present- ...
, whose neighbor he had become, on acquiring the estate of Siebleben near Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
.
Complete works
Freytag's ''Gesammelte Werke'' were published in 22 volumes, at Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
(1886–1888); his ''Vermischte Aufsatze'' have been edited by E. Elster, autobiography mentioned above, the lives by C. Alberti (Leipzig, 1890) and F. Seiler (Leipzig, 1898).
References
External links
Article on Freytag's Death in the June 1895 edition of ''The Bookman'' (New York)
*
*
*
Biography in Ancient Greek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freytag, Gustav
1816 births
1895 deaths
People from Kluczbork
People from the Province of Silesia
German people of the Franco-Prussian War
German political writers
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
University of Breslau alumni
University of Breslau faculty
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
German male novelists
German male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German novelists
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers
Artists from Coburg