Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
) was a German writer notable in the
Young Germany
Young Germany (german: Junges Deutschland) was a group of German writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth ideology, similar to those that had swept France, Ireland, the United States and Italy. Its main proponents ...
movement of the mid-19th century.
Life
Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most menial branch of state employees.
His father held a clerkship in the war office in Berlin,
and was pietistic and puritanical in his outlook and demands. Jacob Wittmer Hartmann speculates that Gutzkow's later agnosticism was probably a reaction against the excessive religiosity of his early surroundings.
After completing his basic studies, beginning in 1829 Gutzkow studied theology and philosophy at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
,
where his teachers included
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
and
Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional ...
.
[Sagarra, Eda (2000).]
Karl Gutzkow, 1811-1878
" ''Encyclopedia of German Literature''. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 391-392.
While still a student, he began his literary career by the publication in 1831 of a periodical entitled ''Forum der Journalliteratur''. This brought him to the notice of
Wolfgang Menzel
Wolfgang Menzel (21 or 26 June 179823 April 1873), German poet, critic and literary historian, was born at Waldenburg (Wałbrzych) in Silesia.
Career overview
He studied at the Breslau, Jena, and Bonn, and after living for some time in Aarau ...
, who invited him to Stuttgart to assist in the editorship of the ''Literaturblatt''. At the same time he continued his university studies at
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
,
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. In 1832 he published ''Briefe eines Narren an eine Närrin'' anonymously in Hamburg; and in 1833 his novel ''Maha-Guru, Geschichte eines Gottes'', a fantastic and satirical romance set in Tibet, was issued in Stuttgart by the well known publishing house. In 1835 he went to
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, where he founded the ''Deutsche Revue''.
While Gutzkow started out as a collaborator of Wolfgang Menzel, he ended up his adversary.
Also in 1835, his novel ''Wally die Zweiflerin'' appeared. News of the 1830
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...
at Paris had moved him deeply, and the general atmosphere of radicalism pervading Europe at that time, and perhaps more specifically a reading of the ''Life of Jesus'' by
David Friedrich Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature h ...
, influenced Gutzkow in the composition of this first novel, which exalts the agnosticism and emancipated views of the heroine, Wally.
The work was directed specially against the institution of marriage and the belief in revelation.
The book incorporates many ideas that Gutzkow had recently absorbed from French writers, notably
Henri de Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon (), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on p ...
, particularly the latter's theory of the emancipation of the flesh.
Immediately after its publication, the writings of Gutzkow, together with those of
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
,
Heinrich Laube
Heinrich Laube (18 September 1806 – 1 August 1884), German dramatist, novelist and theatre-director, was born at Sprottau in Prussian Silesia.
Life
He studied theology at Halle and Breslau (1826–1829), and settled in Leipzig in 1832. Here h ...
,
Ludolf Wienbarg
Christian Ludolf Wienbarg (25 December 1802 – 2 January 1872) was a German journalist and literary critic, one of the founders of the ''Young Germany'' movement during the Vormärz period.
Biography
Wienbarg was born in Altona, as the son of ...
and
Theodor Mundt
200px, Theodor Mundt
Theodor Mundt (September 19, 1808 – November 30, 1861) was a German critic and novelist. He was a member of the Young Germany group of German writers.
Biography
Born at Potsdam, Mundt studied philology and philosophy at Ber ...
, were banned by the
German Federal Assembly in December 1835. This is usually taken as the starting point of the school known as
Young Germany
Young Germany (german: Junges Deutschland) was a group of German writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth ideology, similar to those that had swept France, Ireland, the United States and Italy. Its main proponents ...
, literary reformers heralding the
democratic upheaval of 1848.
Whatever interest Gutzkow's novel might have attracted from its own merits was enhanced by the action of the German federal diet, which condemned Gutzkow to three months' imprisonment, decreed the suppression of all he had written or might yet write, and prohibited him from exercising the functions of editor within the
German confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
.
During his term of imprisonment at
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
, Gutzkow wrote his treatise ''Zur Philosophie der Geschichte'' (1836). On obtaining his freedom he returned to Frankfurt, whence he went in 1837 to Hamburg. Here he inaugurated a new epoch of his literary activity by bringing out his tragedy ''Richard Savage'' (1839), which immediately made the round of all the German theatres. Of his numerous other plays, the majority by c. 1910 were neglected; but a few had obtained an established place in the repertory of the German theatre, especially the comedies ''Zopf und Schwert'' (1844), ''Das Urbild des Tartüffe'' (1847), ''Der Königsleutnant'' (1849) and the blank verse tragedy, ''
Uriel Acosta
Uriel da Costa (; also Acosta or d'Acosta; c. 1585 – April 1640) was a Portuguese philosopher and skeptic who was born Christian, but returned to Judaism and ended up questioning the Catholic and Rabbinic Judaism, rabbinic institutions of his ti ...
'' (1847). In 1847, Gutzkow went to
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, where he succeeded
Tieck Tieck may refer to:
*Christian Friedrich Tieck (1776–1851), German sculptor
* Dorothea Tieck (1799–1841), German translator
*Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853), German poet
** 8056 Tieck, asteroid named after Ludwig Tieck
** Schlegel-Tieck Prize, litera ...
as literary adviser to the court theatre. Meanwhile, he had not neglected the novel. ''Seraphine'' (1838) was followed by ''Blasedow und seine Söhne'', a satire on the educational theories of the time. Between 1850 and 1852 appeared ''Die Ritter vom Geiste'', which may be regarded as the starting point for the modern German
social novel
The social novel, also known as the social problem (or social protest) novel, is a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel". More ...
. ''Der Zauberer von Rom'' is a powerful study of
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
life in southern Germany.
![Still unknown photographer famous people serial number 1170 Karl Gutzkow about 1860 Bildseite](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Still_unknown_photographer_famous_people_serial_number_1170_Karl_Gutzkow_about_1860_Bildseite.jpg)
After the success of ''Die Ritter vom Geiste'', Gutzkow founded a journal on the model of Dickens' ''
Household Words
''Household Words'' was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s. It took its name from the line in Shakespeare's ''Henry V'': "Familiar in his mouth as household words."
History
During the planning stages, titles origi ...
'', entitled ''Unterhaltungen am häuslichen Herd'', which first appeared in 1852 and continued until 1862. In 1864 he had an epileptic seizure, and his theatrical powers began to diminish. To this period belong the historical novels ''Hohenschwangau'' (1868) and ''Fritz Ellrodt'' (1872), ''Lebensbilder'' (1870–1872), consisting of autobiographic sketches, and ''Die Söhne Pestalozzis'' (1870), with a plot founded on the story of
Kaspar Hauser
Kaspar Hauser (30 April 1812 – 17 December 1833) was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Hauser's claims, and his subsequent death from a stab wound to his left breast, sparked much debate an ...
. After another epileptic episode Gutzkow journeyed to Italy in 1873, taking up residence in the country near Heidelberg on his return before moving again to Frankfurt, where he died on 16 December 1878.
With his play ''
Uriel Acosta
Uriel da Costa (; also Acosta or d'Acosta; c. 1585 – April 1640) was a Portuguese philosopher and skeptic who was born Christian, but returned to Judaism and ended up questioning the Catholic and Rabbinic Judaism, rabbinic institutions of his ti ...
'', and other works, Gutzkow stood up for the
emancipation of the Jews
Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It incl ...
; this play would later become the first classic play to be translated into
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, and become a longtime standard of
Yiddish theater
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...
. Gutzkow was never a revolutionary, and he became more conservative with age. He was one of the first Germans who tried to make a living by writing.
His strong controversial purpose obscured his artistic genius, but his work profoundly influenced the popular thought of c. 1910 Germany, and gives one of the best pictures we have of the intellectual life and the social struggle of his generation and nation.
Adaptations
His comedy in 5 acts ''Zopf und Schwert'' (1844) received two adaptations; in 1926
Aafa-Film
Aafa Film or Aafa-Film was a German film production and distribution company which operated during the 1920s and 1930s. Established in 1920 as Radio-Film the company was controlled by the producer Gabriel Levy and the director Rudolf Dworsky. ...
made the movie ''
Sword and Shield'', and
Edmund Nick used it for his
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
''Über alles siegt die Liebe'' (''Love Conquers Everything'', 1940),
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by .
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutzkow, Karl
German non-fiction writers
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
University of Jena alumni
Heidelberg University alumni
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
1811 births
1878 deaths
Writers from Berlin
Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery
German male novelists
German male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German novelists
19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers