Carl Seelig (May 11, 1894, Zurich – February 15, 1962, Zurich) was a German-Swiss writer and

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

. He was best known as a friend, promoter and guardian of Robert Walser and the first biographer of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

Life

The son of a wealthy family, was literarily active at early age. Through his work as editor of several anthologies, and a silent partner in the Viennese publisher EPTal & Co, he entered into contact with many German writers, and proved to be especially sensitive. His production was enormously rich and varied: from poetry and folk song collections to collaborator to Albert Einstein's ''Mein Weltbild''. An international libraries overview counted 163 published works, in 294 publications and 13 languages. Seelig's recorded correspondents were, among others,

Max Brod Max Brod ( he, מקס ברוד; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a German-speaking Bohemian, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and bio ...

, Hans Henny Jahnn,

Alfred Polgar Alfred Polgar (originally: Alfred Polak) 17 October 1873, Vienna – 24 April 1955, Zurich) was an Austrian-born columnist, theater critic, writer and occasionally translator. All in all, he was one of the most important protagonists of the ...

and

Joseph Roth Moses Joseph Roth (2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939) was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga ''Radetzky March'' (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his novel of Jewish life '' Job'' ...

. He also maintained close contacts with Swiss authors, most notably Robert Walser, whom he accompanied on his walks, giving rise to the biographical work, ''Wanderungen mit Robert Walser'', which was translated for the first time into the English, ''Walks with Walser,'' by Anne Posten in 2017. The Swiss Literary Archives store, as a long-term loan, approximately 6,000 manuscript pieces by Seelig.

Bibliography

German

* ''Der Tag bricht an.'' Neue Gedichte von Waldemar Bonsels, Martin Buber, Hermann Hesse, Stefan Zweig (editor, 1921) * ''Das neue Wunderhorn'' (editor, 1924) * ''Die Jahreszeyten im Spiegel schweizerischer Volkssprüche'' (editor, 1925) * Robert Walser: ''Vom Glück des Unglücks und der Armut. Die schönsten besinnlichen Stellen aus Walsers Büchern – stille Weisheit eines wahren Poeten'' (editor, 1944) * Novalis: ''Gesammelte Werke'' (editor, 1945/1946) * Sterne: ''Anekdotische Kurzgeschichten aus sechs Jahrhunderten'' (editor, 1950) * Robert Walser: ''Jakob von Gunten.'' (editor, 1950). * ''Albert Einstein und die Schweiz'' (1952) * Robert Walser: ''Dichtungen in Prosa'' (1953–1961) * ''Albert Einstein'' (1954) *''Helle Zeit — Dunkle Zeit: In memoriam Albert Einstein'' (editor, 1956) * ''Wanderungen mit Robert Walser'' (1957) * Albert Einstein: ''Mein Weltbild'' (first published 1934 by Rudolf Kayser, extended edition published by Seelig in 1954) * ''Originelle Gestalten der Familie Schoop.'' In: ''Thurgauer Jahrbuch.'' 33. Jahrgang, pages 95–110 (1958) *''Albert Einstein Leben Und Werk Eines Genies Unserer Zeit'' (1960

English Translations

* ''Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography'' (1956) * ''Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein'' (editor, translation first published 1954) * '' The World as I See It'' (editor, translation first published 2015) * ''Walks with Walser'' (2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seelig, Carl Writers from Zürich 1962 deaths Swiss writers in German 20th-century Swiss writers 1894 births Swiss essayists 20th-century essayists