Jakob Frey (13 May 1824 ‒ 30 December 1875) was a Swiss writer of short stories about peasant life. He used the pseudonyms ''J. Reif'', ''F. Kuhn'', ''F. Imhoof'', and ''J. A.''

Life

Jakob Frey was born into a large farming family in

Gontenschwil Gontenschwil is a municipality in the district of Kulm in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Gontenschwil is first mentioned in 1173 as ''Gundoltswilre'' in a grant to the monastery at Beromünster. In 1236, ownership of part of vil ...

. He studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. From 1851 he lived in

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

where he edited '' Der Schweizerbote''. He was elevated to the

Grand Council of Aargau The Grand Council of Aargau () is the legislature of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau, in Switzerland. Aargau has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council has 140 seats, with members elected every four years. The most recent ele ...

where he was elected secretary. However this work was unappealing to him and in 1856 he moved to Bern, where he began editing the ''

Berner Zeitung ''Berner Zeitung'' (literally: "Journal of Bern"), also branded as ''BZ'', is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper, published by Tamedia in Bern. History and profile ''Berner Zeitung'' was first issued on 3 January 1979. Four different pape ...

''. In 1861 he moved to

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 ...

, and in 1865 he went back to Bern before returning to Aarau in 1868. He died in Bern. Frey was not a particularly prolific writer of short stories, but those he wrote are often considered to be among the best of Swiss literature. His son Adolf Frey (1855–1920) published his remaining manuscripts and wrote a biography.

Works

* ''Zwischen Jura und Alpen. Erzählungen und Lebensbilder''. 2 vols. Weber, Leipzig 1858 * ''Die Waise von Holligen. Erzählung aus den Tagen des Untergangs der alten Eidgenossenschaft''. Krüsi, Basel 1863 * ''Schweizerbilder. Erzählungen aus der Heimath''. 2 vols. Sauerländer, Aarau 1864 * ''Neue Schweizerbilder. Erzählungen''. Frobeen, Bern 1877 * ''Gesammelte Erzählungen''. 5 vols. Sauerländer, Aarau 1897

Bibliography

* Adolf Frey: ''Jakob Frey. Ein Lebensbild''. In: ''Gesammelte Erzählungen'', Band 5, Aarau 1897 *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Jakob 1824 births 1875 deaths Swiss male short story writers Swiss short story writers Swiss newspaper editors 19th-century Swiss journalists Male journalists 19th-century short story writers 19th-century Swiss male writers