Wilhelm Schäfer (20 January 1868 – 19 January 1952) was a German writer.
Life
Born in
Ottrau (
Hesse
Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
), until 1896 Schäfer was a school teacher. He gained a scholarship to study in Switzerland and France through the Cotta-Verlag publishing house, and in 1898 became a freelance writer in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. He lived in
Vallendar
Vallendar () is a town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 4 km north-east of Koblenz. Vallendar is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipa ...
from 1900 to 1915, and from 1918 until his death in 1952, he lived in
Bodman on the
Bodensee
Lake Constance (, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhei ...
.
His work (drama, novels, and short prose pieces) were naturalist in style and marked with "völkisch" and national elements. In 1930 he published a novel about the shoe-maker
Wilhelm Voigt
Wilhelm Voigt (13 February 1849 – 3 January 1922) was a German con man and impostor. In his most famous exploit, Voigt masqueraded as a military officer of the elite Prussian Guards in 1906, rounding up a number of Imperial German Army soldi ...
with the title ''
Der Hauptmann von Köpenick''.
From 1900 to 1920, he published the magazine ''Die Rheinlande''. His early work was especially influenced by
naturalism. Important novellas were "Die unterbrochene Rheinfahrt" (1913) und "Hölderlins Einkehr" (1925). Schäfer's folksy language and mystification of the "German soul" made his work popular with the Nazis.
Awards
* 1941
Goethepreis der Stadt Frankfurt
* 1948 Honorary citizen of
Bodman
Works (selection)
* ''Die zehn Gebote. Erzählungen des Kanzelfriedrich'', 1897
* ''Rheinsagen'', 1908
* ''Karl Stauffers Lebensgang. Eine Chronik der Leidenschaft'', 1912
* ''Das fremde Fräulein'' (Novelle über den Tod der
Idilia Dubb auf
Burg Lahneck)
* ''Die dreizehn Bücher der deutschen Seele'', 1922
* ''Winckelmanns Ende'', 1925
* ''Der Hauptmann von Köpenick'', 1930
* ''Mein Leben'', 1934
* ''Theoderich, König des Abendlandes'', 1939
* ''Lebenstag eines Menschenfreundes (Ein Pestalozzi Roman)'', 1915
References
* Sabine Brenner: ''"Wir ungereimten Rheinländer wollen es wieder richtig machen". Wilhelm Schäfer und die Kulturzeitschrift "Die Rheinlande".'' In: ''"Ganges Europas, heiliger Strom!" Der literarische Rhein (1900-1933)'', hrsg. v. Sabine Brenner. Düsseldorf 2001. (= Veröffentlichungen des Heinrich-Heine-Instituts Düsseldorf). S. 47-74.
* Mechthild Curtius: ''Über die Möglichkeiten und Schwierigkeiten, sich einem Heimatdichter filmisch zu nähern. Essay über den rheinischen Schriftsteller Wilhelm Schäfer.'' In: Literatur in Westfalen. 7 (2004) S. 397-412.
* Conrad Höfer: ''Wilhelm Schäfer. Bibliographie.'' Berlin: Privatdr. bei Steinkopf 1937-1943.
* Hans Lorenzen: ''Typen deutscher Anekdotenerzählung (Kleist - Hebel - Schäfer).'' Hamburg: Univ. Diss. 1935.
* Maik Irmisch: Kapitel "Greither und Wilhelm Schäfer" in "Aloys Greither - Hautarzt zwischen Mozart, Hesse, Dix und Scharl" Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2006
* ''Wilhelm Schäfer. Zu seinem 50. Geburtstag'', hrsg. v. Karl Röttger. München: Müller 1918.
* ''Bekenntnis zu Wilhelm Schäfer. Zum 60. Geburtstag des Dichters am 20. Januar 1928'', hrsg. v. Otto Doderer. München: Müller 1928.
* Franz Stuckert: ''Wilhelm Schäfer. Ein Volksdichter unserer Zeit.'' München: Langen/Müller 1935.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Wilhelm
1868 births
1952 deaths
People from Schwalm-Eder-Kreis
German male writers