Moritz August von Thümmel (1738–1817) was a German humorist and satirical author.

Life

Thümmel was born on 27 May 1738 at

Schönefeld Schönefeld (, meaning ''beautiful field'') is a suburban municipality in the Dahme-Spreewald district, Brandenburg, Germany. It borders the southeastern districts of Berlin. The municipal area encompasses the old Berlin Schönefeld Airport (SXF) ...

near Leipzig. Educated at Roßleben,

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

and the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, where he studied law, from 1761 until 1783 he held various offices in the ducal court of

Saxe-Coburg Saxe-Coburg () was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany. History Ernestine Line When Henry IV, Count of Henneberg – Schleusingen, died in 1347, the possessions of the House of Henneberg ...

, where he became privy councillor and minister of state. He wrote a comic prose epic, ''Wilhelmine, oder der vermählte Pedant'' (1764); and ''Die Inoculation der Liebe'' (1771), a tale in verse. His most famous work is his ''Reise in die mittäglichen Provinzen van Frankreich im Jahre 1785–1786'' (1791–1805), a "sentimental journey" in ten volumes, in which the influence of Wieland is unmistakable.

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

, in his essay " On Naïve and Sentimental Poetry", found this work wanting in aesthetic dignity yet allowed that the keen knowledge of men and things it displays makes it a valuable contribution to literature. Thümmel's other writings are not as well known. Thümmel retired in 1783 and died in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

on 26 October 1817. Early 20th-century painter Vito Timmel descended from him.

Works

His collected works were published in Leipzig in eight volumes (1811–1839), with a biography by Johann E. von Gruner in volume 8 (1820), and again in 1856. See also Felix Bobertag, ''Erzählende Prosa der klassischen Periode'', vol. i. ( Joseph Kürschner's ''Deutsche Nationaltiteratur'', vol. cxxxvi, 1886). ''Wilhelmine'' has also been edited by Richard Rosenbaum (1894), and has been translated into English by John Raymond Russell (1998).

Notes

References

* *Moritz August von Thümmel: ''Wilhelmine'' and Friedrich Nicolai: ''The Life and Opinions of Master Sebaldus Nothanker'' – Masterworks of the German Rococo and Enlightenment. Translated by John Raymond Russell. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1998.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thummel, Moritz August 1738 births 1817 deaths 18th-century German writers Saxon nobility Writers from Leipzig 18th-century German male writers