Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special appreciation of his

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

''Olympian Spring''". His work includes both pessimistic and

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

ic poems.

Biography

Spitteler was born in Liestal. His father was an official of the government, being Federal Secretary of the Treasury from 1849 to 1856. Young Spitteler attended the gymnasium at

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, having among his teachers philologist Wilhelm Wackernagel and historian

Jacob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (; ; 25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is '' The Civilization of the Renaissance in ...

. From 1863 he studied law at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

. In 1865–1870 he studied theology in the same institution, at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

and

, though when a position as pastor was offered him, he felt that he must decline it. He had begun to realize his mission as an epic poet and therefore refused to work in the field for which he had prepared himself. Later he worked in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

as tutor, starting from August 1871, remaining there (with some periods in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) until 1879. Later he was elementary teacher in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and La Neuveville, as well as journalist for the ''Der Kunstwart'' and as editor for the ''

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

''. In 1883 Spitteler married Marie op der Hoff, previously his pupil in Neuveville. Under the pseudonym Carl Felix Tandem, Spitteler published the allegoric prose poem ''Prometheus and Epimetheus'' in 1881, contrasting between ideals and dogmas through the mythological figures of

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

and Epimetheus. This 1881 edition received an extended psychological exegesis by Carl Gustav Jung in his 1921 book ''

Psychological Types ''Psychological Types'' () is a book by Carl Jung that was originally published in German by Rascher Verlag in 1921, and translated into English in 1923, becoming volume 6 of '' The Collected Works of C. G. Jung''. In the book, Jung proposes f ...

''. Spitteler later reworked the poem as ''Prometheus der Dulder'' (''Prometheus the Sufferer''), published in 1924 under his true name. In 1882 he published his ''Extramundana'', a collection of poems. He gave up teaching in 1885 and devoted himself to a journalistic career in Basel. Now his works began to come in rapid succession. In 1891 there appeared ''Friedli, der Kalderi'', a collection of short stories, in which Spitteler, as he himself says, depicted Russian realism. ''Literarische Gleichnisse'' appeared in 1892, and ''Balladen'' in 1896. In 1900–1905 Spitteler wrote the powerful allegoric-epic poem, in iambic hexameters, ''Olympischer Frühling'' (''Olympic Spring''). This work, mixing fantastic, naturalistic, religions and mythological themes, deals with human concern towards the universe. His prose works include ''Die Mädchenfeinde ''(''Two Little Misogynists'', 1907), about his autobiographical childhood experiences, the dramatic ''Conrad der Leutnant ''(1898), in which he show influence from the previously opposed Naturalism, and the autobiographical novella ''Imago'' (1906), examining the role of the unconscious in the conflict between a creative mind and the middle-class restrictions with

internal monologue Intrapersonal communication (also known as autocommunication or inner speech) is communication with oneself or self-to-self communication. Examples are thinking to oneself "I will do better next time" after having made a mistake or imagining a ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he opposed the pro-German attitude of the Swiss German-speaking majority, a position put forward in the essay "Unser Schweizer Standpunkt". In 1919 he won the Nobel Prize. Spitteler died at

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

in 1924. Carl Spitteler's estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in

, in the Zürich Central Library and in the Dichter- und Stadtmuseum in Liestal.

In popular culture

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

claimed his idea of the archetype of the Anima was based upon what Spitteler described as 'My Lady Soul'. Musician

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, who famously described himself as Jungian, wrote the 1973 song " Lady Grinning Soul".Stark, T., “Crashing Out with Sylvian: David Bowie, Carl Jung and the Unconscious” in Deveroux, E., M.Power and A. Dillane (eds) David Bowie: Critical Perspectives: Routledge Press Contemporary Music Series. 2015 (chapter 5)
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Works

All the works except the novel are untranslated and unavailable in English as of 2025.

Poetry

*''Extramundana'' (Otherworldly, 1883) - 7 cosmic myths *''Schmetterlinge'' (Butterflies, 1889) *''Der Parlamentär'' (The Parliamentarian, 1889) *''Gustav'' (1892) *''Balladen'' (The Ballad, 1896) *''Conrad der Leutnant'' (Conrad the Lieutenant, 1898) *''Der olympische Frühling'' (The Olympian Spring, 1900–1905, revised 1910) - 4 volumes #Die Auffahrt (The Ascension) #Hera die Braut (Hera the Bride) #Die Hohe Zeit (The High Time) #Ende und Wende (End and Turning Point/End and Bend) *''Glockenlieder ''(Grass and Bell Songs, 1906) *''Die Mädchenfeinde'' (2 Little Misogynists, 1907)

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

#''Prometheus und Epimetheus'' (Prometheus and Epimetheus, 1881) #''Prometheus der Dulder'' (Prometheus the Suffering, 1924)

Novel

*''

Imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the ''imaginal'' stage ("imaginal" being "imago" in adjective form), the stage in wh ...

'' (1906)

Non-fiction

Essays

*''Literarische Gleichnisse'' ("Literary Parables", 1892) *''Lachende Wahrheiten ''(Laughing Truth, 1898)

Autobiography

*''Meine frühesten Erlebnisse ''("My Earliest Experiences", 1914)

References

www.dichtermuseum.ch

External links

Literary estate of Carl Spitteler
in the archive database HelveticArchives of the Swiss National Library
Publications by and about Carl Spitteler
in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library *
Official Site of the Carl Spitteler Foundation
*
List of Works
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spitteler, Carl University of Zurich alumni Nobel laureates in Literature Swiss Nobel laureates Swiss Protestants Swiss writers Swiss writers in German Writers from Basel-Stadt 1845 births 1924 deaths People from Liestal