Robert Faesi (10 April 1883 Zürich – 10 September 1972, Zollikon) was a Swiss writer and academic concerned with Literature and language

Life

Son of the businessman Heinrich Friedrich Faesi, Robert Faesi was born into a well established and affluent Zürich family. After successfully completing his schooling, he initially studied Law, before switching to

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

. In 1907 he obtained his doctorate with a dissertation on

Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich (1 February 1796, Brugg, Aargau1 December 1865) was a Swiss poet. Biography He was born in Brugg in the canton of Aargau, where his father was a teacher. After studying theology at Zürich he became a pastor in 1817 and ...

, a nineteenth century poet-theologian. Faesi then took a position as a high school teacher in Zürich, also undertaking several extended educational tours, before ending up in 1911 at the University of Zurich where he was appointed, in 1922, "extraordinary" professor for the history of modern Swiss and German literature. Further distinctions and promotions followed at the university, and in 1953 he was nominated an emeritus professor. From his perspective as a

Germanist German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

he wrote

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

s about writers of "modern classics" such as Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,

Carl Spitteler Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special appreciation of his epic, ''Olympian Spring''". His work includes both pessimistic and hero ...

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

and Thomas Mann, and also chronicled a history of recent Swiss literature. With his story

Fusilier Wipf ''Fusilier Wipf'' (German: ''Füsilier Wipf'') is a 1938 Swiss drama film directed by Hermann Haller and Leopold Lindtberg and starring Paul Hubschmid, Heinrich Gretler and Robert Trösch. When the First World War breaks out, a hairdresser's ...

which was the basis for a film that came out in 1938, Faesi also made a start on his own contribution to the more popular end of the nation's literary canon. For his Zürcher-trilogy of novels, dealing with the history of Zürich during the first half of the nineteenth century, he received the city's literary prize in 1945. A collection of letters and other documentary material on Robert Faesi along with some memoir-material is held in the Manuscript department at the Zürich Central Library

Works

Prose

* ''Zürcher Idylle''. Novelle. Schulthess, Zürich 1908; neu überarbeitete Fassung ebd. 1950 * ''Füsilier Wipf. Eine Geschichte aus dem schweizerischen Grenzdienst''. Huber, Frauenfeld 1917; überarbeitete Fassung ebd. 1938 * ''Der König von Sainte-Pélagie''. Erzählung. Haessel, Leipzig 1924 * ''Vom

Menuett A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...

zur

Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

''. Novelle. Grethlein, Zürich/Leipzig 1930 * Zürcher Romantrilogie: ** ''Die Stadt der Väter''. Atlantis, Zürich 1941; überarbeitete Fassung ebd. 1967 ** ''Die Stadt der Freiheit'', ebd. 1944 ** ''Die Stadt des Friedens'', ebd. 1952 * ''Alles Korn meinet Weizen''. Roman. Atlantis, Zürich 1961 * ''Erlebnisse, Ergebnisse''. Erinnerungen. Atlantis, Zürich 1963 * ''

Diodor Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

. Ohnmacht der Macht''. Erzählung. Atlantis, Zürich 1968

Poetry

* ''Aus der Brandung. Zeitgedichte eines Schweizers''. Huber, Frauenfeld 1917 * ''Der brennende Busch''. Grethlein, Zürich/Leipzig 1926 * ''Das Antlitz der Erde''. Insel, Leipzig 1936 * ''Tag unsres Volks. Eine Schweizerdichtung'' (= Fest-Kantate zur Landi 1939). Huber, Frauenfeld 1939 * ''Ungereimte Welt gereimt''. Atlantis, Zürich 1946 * ''Über den Dächern''. Bühl, Herrliberg 1946 * ''Die Gedichte''. Atlantis, Zürich 1955

Drama

* ''Odysseus und Nausikaa''. Tragödie in 3 Akten. Schulthess, Zürich 1911 * ''Die offenen Türen''. Komödie in 2 Akten. Oesterheld, Berlin 1912 * ''Die Fassade''. Lustspiel in 3 Aufzügen. Oesterheld, Berlin 1918 * ''Dichternöte oder Wahrhaftige Tragikomödie und grausliches Martyrium der schweizerischen Schriftsteller. Ein Kasperlispiel, mit vielem Fleiß erfunden und in Knittelverse gebracht''. Schulthess, Zürich 1921 * ''Opferspiel''. Grethlein, Zürich/Leipzig 1925 * ''Leerlauf''. Komödie in 3 Akten. Reiss, Basel 1929 * ''Der Magier. Ein Spiel mit Sternen''. Huber, Frauenfeld 1938 * ''Das Spiel von der schwarzen Spinne''. Opera in 2 Acts, from the story by Jeremias Gotthelf. Bühnenmusik von

Willy Burkhard Willy Burkhard (17 April 1900 – 18 June 1955) was a Swiss composer and academic teacher, influential in both capacities. He taught music theory at the Berne Conservatory and the Zürich Conservatory. His works include an opera, oratorios, cantat ...

. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1949; Tschudi, Glarus 1956

Essays and Monographs

* '' Paul Ernst und die neuklassischen Bestrebungen im Drama''. Xenien, Leipzig 1913 * ''Das poetische Zürich. Miniaturen aus dem 18. Jahrhundert'' (with Eduard Korrodi). Rascher, Zürich 1913 * ''Carl Spitteler. Eine Darstellung seiner Persönlichkeit''. Rascher, Zürich 1915 * ''Rainer Maria Rilke''. Amalthea, Zürich/Leipzig/Wien 1919 * ''Gestalten und Wandlungen schweizerischer Dichtung''. 10 Essays. Amalthea, Zürich/Leipzig/Wien 1922 * ''Conrad Ferdinand Meyer''. Haessel, Leipzig 1925; überarbeitete Fassung: Huber, Frauenfeld 1948 * ''Heimat und Genius. Festblätter zur schweizerischen Geistesgeschichte''. Huber, Frauenfeld 1933 * ''Spittelers Weg und Werk''. Huber, Frauenfeld 1933 * ''Thomas Mann. Ein Meister der Erzählkunst''. Atlantis, Zürich 1955

As an Editor

* ''Soldat und Bürger. Ein Beitrag zur nationalen Erziehung des Schweizers. Mit einem Vorwort des Generals Ulrich Wille'' (with

Gonzague de Reynold Gonzague de Reynold (15 June 1880 – 9 April 1970) was a Swiss writer, historian, and right-wing political activist. Over the course of his six-decade career, he wrote more than thirty books outlining his traditionalist Catholic and Swiss natio ...

and Charles Gos). Schulthess, Zürich 1916 * ''Anthologia Helvetica. Deutsche, französische, italienische, rätoromanische und lateinische Gedichte und Volkslieder''. Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1921 (Reihe Bibliotheca mundi) ** unveränderte Neuausgabe als: ''Die Ernte schweizerischer Lyrik''. Rascher, Zürich 1928

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faesi, Robert Swiss writers in German 20th-century Swiss writers 1883 births 1972 deaths Writers from Zürich University of Zurich faculty