Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (18 March 1733 – 11 January 1811) was a German writer, bookseller, critic, and regional historian, who authored satirical novels and travelogues.

Life

Nicolai was born 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 ...

, where his father, (d. 1752), was the founder of the

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

'. He received a good education, and in 1749 went to

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With around 58,000 inh ...

to learn his father's business, finding time also to become acquainted with

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

. In 1752 Nicolai returned to Berlin, and began to take part in literary controversy by defending

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

against the attacks of JC Gottsched. His ''Briefe über den jetzigen Zustand der schönen Wissenschaften in Deutschland'', published anonymously in 1755 and reprinted by G Ellinger in 1894, were directed against both Gottsched and Gottsched's

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

opponents,

Johann Jakob Bodmer Johann Jakob Bodmer (19 July 16982 January 1783) was a Swiss author, academic, critic and poet. Life Born at Greifensee, near Zürich, and first studying theology and then trying a commercial career, he finally found his vocation in letters. In ...

and

Johann Jakob Breitinger Johann Jakob Breitinger (1 March 1701 in Zürich – 14 December 1776) was a Swiss philologist and author. Life Breitinger studied theology and philology and first earned recognition from 1730 through a new edition of the Septuaginta. Fro ...

; his enthusiasm for English literature won for him the friendship of

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

and

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'J ...

. In association with Mendelssohn he established in 1757 the ''Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften'', a periodical which he conducted until 1760. Together with Lessing and Mendelssohn, Nicolai edited the famous

book review A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...

journal ''Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend'' between 1759 and 1765; and from 1765 to 1792 he edited another book review journal ''Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek''. This latter periodical served as the organ of the so-called popular philosophers, who warred against authority in religion and against what they conceived to be extravagance in literature. His romances are largely forgotten, although ''Das Leben und die Meinungen des Herrn Magister Sebaldus Nothanker'' (1773–1776), and his satire on Goethe's ''

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...

'', ''Freuden des jungen Werthers'' (1775), had a certain reputation in their day. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, his ''Anekdoten von König Friedrich II. von Preussen'' (1788–92), an account of events in the court of Frederick II the Great, has some historical value. Between 1788 and 1796, Nicolai published in twelve volumes a ''Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz'', which bears witness to the conservatism of his views in later life. The sober narrow-mindedness and grumpy stubbornness of the aging writer, who willingly pretended to be Lessing's spiritual heir, eventually led to the fact that his true merits were forgotten. Nicolai also offered an early account of visual hallucinosis with preservation of insight and unrelated to madness: "suddenly I observed, at the distance of ten paces, the figure of a deceased person. I asked my wife whether she saw it. She saw nothing but being much alarmed … sent for the physician." The visions were beyond his control and could not be elicited at will. In a short story by

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for ''The Woman in White (novel), The Woman in White'' (1860), a mystery novel and early sensation novel, and for ''The Moonsto ...

entitled "

Mrs. Zant and the Ghost Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard English pronunciation: ) is a commonly used English honorific for women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title or rank, such as ''Doctor'', ''Profess ...

," the narrator compares the main character to the "celebrated case of the bookseller, Nicolai, of Berlin" in regards to illusions "without being accompanied by derangement of the intellectual powers."Wilkie Collins (2006) The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories: Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural. "Mrs Zant & the Ghost". Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, pp 173-203. Nicolai died in 1811 in Berlin. Nicolai's ''Bildniss und Selbsbiographie'' was published by

Moses Samuel Löwe In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

in the ''Bildnisse jetzt lebender Berliner Gelehrter'', in 1806.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolai, Christoph Friedrich 1733 births 1811 deaths Writers from Berlin 18th-century German writers German booksellers Booksellers from the Holy Roman Empire People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg 18th-century German male writers Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Illuminati

Life

References

Further reading

External links