Berthold Auerbach was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-Jewish poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and author. He was the founder of the German “tendency novel,” in which fiction is used as a means of influencing public opinion on social, political, moral, and religious questions.

Biography

Moses (Moyses) Baruch Auerbach was born in Nordstetten (now Horb am Neckar

Horb am Neckar

Horb am Neckar is a town in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river, between Offenburg to the west and Tübingen to the east . It has around 25,000 inhabitants, of whom about 6,000 live in the main town of Horb, and the remainder in 18 associated...

) in the Kingdom of Württemberg

Kingdom of Württemberg

The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...

. He attended Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium

Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium

Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium is a gymnasium in Stuttgart established in 1686.-History:The school was established in 1686 as Gymnasium illustre. In 1881, during the reign of Charles I of Württemberg, because of overcrowding, the Karls-Gymnasium was established and took over 18 of its 39 classes...

. He was intended for the ministry, but after studying philosophy at Tübingen, Munich and Heidelberg, and becoming estranged from Jewish orthodoxy

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 by the study of Spinoza, he devoted himself to literature. While a student in Heidelberg and under the pseudonym “Theobald Chauber,” he produced a Biography of Frederick the Great

Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

(1834–36).

Another early publication was entitled Das Judentum und die neueste Litteratur (Judaism and Recent Literature; 1836), and was to be followed by a series of novels taken from Jewish history. Of this intended series he actually published, with considerable success, Spinoza (1837) and Dichter und Kaufmann (Poet and Merchant; 1839). His romance on the life of Spinoza adheres so closely to fact that it may be read with equal advantage as a novel or as a biography. In 1841, he did a translation of Spinoza's works. In 1842, he wrote Der gebildete Bürger (The educated citizen), an attempt to popularize philosophical subjects.

But real fame and popularity came to him after 1843, when he began to occupy himself with the life of the common people which forms the subject of his best-known works. That year he published Schwarzwälder Dorfgeschichten (Black Forest Village Stories; 1843) which was his first great success, widely translated, and expressing with a sympathetic realism the memories and scenes of youth. In his later books, of which Auf der Höhe

Auf der Höhe

Auf der Höhe is a novel by German author Berthold Auerbach published in 1865. It reflects a period of constitutional political conflict in Germany, and is the most widely known of Auerbach's novels. English translations by S. A...

(On the Height; 1865) is perhaps the most characteristic, and certainly the most famous, he revealed an unrivaled insight into the soul of the Southern German country folk, and especially of the peasants of the Black Forest

Black Forest

The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....

 and the Bavarian Alps. His descriptions are remarkable for their fresh realism, graceful style and humour. In addition to these qualities, his last books are marked by great subtlety of psychological analysis. Auf der Höhe was first published at Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 in 1861, and has been translated into several languages.

Auerbach died at Cannes

Cannes

Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 shortly before his 70th birthday. His life was uneventful, though embittered at the close by the growth of German anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

.

Selected works

• Schwarzwälder Dorfgeschichten (Tales of Villages in the Black Forest; 1843)
• Barfüssele (1856)
• Edelweiss (1861)
• Joseph im Schnee (Joseph in the snow; 1861)
• Das Landhaus am Rhein (A Country House on the Rhein; 1869)
• Waldfried (1874) draws literary inspiration from German unity and the Franco-Prussian War
  Franco-Prussian War
  The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
  
  
• Nach dreissig Jahren (1876)
• Der Forstmeister (1879)
• Brigitta (1880)
• Briefe an seinen Freund J. Auerbach (Letters to his friend J. Auerbach; posthumous, with a preface by F. Spielhagen, 2 vols., 1884)

Literature on Auerbach

• Jonathan Skolnik, "Writing Jewish History Between Gutzkow and Goethe: Auerbach's Spinoza" in Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History (1999) This work in turn cites:
  • Eugen Zabel, Berthold Auerbach (Berlin, 1882) This work in turn cites Zabel and:
  • Eduard Lasker
    Eduard Lasker
    Eduard Lasker was a German politician and jurist.-Biography:He was born at Jarotschin, a village in Posen, being the son of a Jewish tradesman. He attended the gymnasium, and afterwards the University of Breslau...
    
    , Berthold Auerbach, ein Gedenkblatt (1882) This work in turn cites Zabel, Lasker and:
  • Anton Bettelheim
    Anton Bettelheim
    Anton Bettelheim was an Austrian critic and journalist.-Biography:He studied law, and for some time was engaged in active practise, but abandoned the profession for a literary career. Although he had received his degree of "doctor of law", he attended the lectures of Giesebrecht and M. Bernays at...
    
    , B. Auerbach, der Mann, sein Werk (1907)

External links

• Works by Berthold Auerbach at Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...