Carl Spitteler

Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29

December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special
appreciation of his epic Olympian Spring". His work
includes both pessimistic and heroic 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, having among his teachers
philologist Wilhelm Wackernagel and historian Jacob
Burckhardt. From 1863 he studied law at the
University of Zurich. In 1865–1870 he studied Born 24 April 1845
theology in the same institution, at Heidelberg and Liestal, Switzerland
Basel, though when a position as pastor was offered
Died 29 December 1924 (aged 79)
him, he felt that he must decline it. He had begun to
Lucerne, Switzerland
realize his mission as an epic poet and therefore
Occupation Poet
refused to work in the field for which he had prepared
Language German
himself.[1]
Education University of Basel,
Later he worked in Russia as tutor, starting from Heidelberg University
August 1871, remaining there (with some periods in Notable Nobel Prize in Literature
Finland) until 1879. Later he was elementary teacher in awards 1919
Bern and La Neuveville, as well as journalist for the
Der Kunstwart and as editor for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 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 and Epimetheus. This 1881 edition received an extended psychological exegesis by Carl
Gustav Jung in his 1921 book Psychological Types. 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.[1]
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.

During World War I 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 in 1924.

Carl Spitteler's estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern, in the Zürich Central Library
and in the Dichter- und Stadtmuseum in Liestal.

In popular culture
Carl Jung claimed his idea of the archetype of the Anima was based upon what Spitteler described as 'My
Lady Soul'. Musician David Bowie, who famously described himself as Jungian, wrote the 1973 song
"Lady Grinning Soul".[2]

Works
Prometheus und Epimetheus (1881)
Extramundana (1883, seven cosmic myths)
Schmetterlinge ("Butterflies", 1889)
Der Parlamentär (1889)
Literarische Gleichnisse ("Literary Parables”, 1892)
Gustav (1892)
Balladen (1896)
Conrad der Leutnant (1898)
Lachende Wahrheiten (1898, essays)
Der olympische Frühling (1900–1905, revised 1910)
Glockenlieder ("Grass and Bell Songs", 1906)
Imago (1906, novel)
Die Mädchenfeinde (Two Little Misogynists, 1907)
Meine frühesten Erlebnisse ("My Earliest Experiences", 1914, biographical)
Prometheus der Dulder ("Prometheus the Suffering”, 1924)

References
1. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: William F. Hauhart
(1920). "Spitteler, Carl" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Encyclopedia_Americana_(192
0)/Spitteler,_Carl). In Rines, George Edwin (ed.). Encyclopedia Americana.
 2. 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) (https://tanjastark.com/2015/06/22/cras
hing-out-with-sylvian-david-bowie-carl-jung-and-the-unconscious/)

www.dichtermuseum.ch (http://www.dichtermuseum.ch/willkommen.html)

External links
Media related to Carl Spitteler at Wikimedia Commons
Literary estate of Carl Spitteler (http://www.helveticarchives.ch/detail.aspx?ID=165136) in
the archive database HelveticArchives of the Swiss National Library
Publications by and about Carl Spitteler (https://web.archive.org/web/20160215102015/htt
p://libraries.admin.ch/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon?skin=helveticat&inst=consortium&submitthefor
m=Search&usersrch=1&beginsrch=1&elementcount=3&function=INITREQ&search=KEYW
ORD&rootsearch=KEYWORD&lng=en&pos=1&conf=.%2Fchameleon.conf&t1=carl+spitteler
&u1=1003&op1=OR&t2=carl+spitteler&u2=21&op2=AND&t3=&u3=1035&host=biblio.admin.
ch%2B3601%2BDEFAULT&patronhost=biblio.admin.ch%203601%20DEFAULT) in the
catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library
Carl Spitteler (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/588) on Nobelprize.org
Official Site of the Carl Spitteler Foundation (https://web.archive.org/web/20070311044213/
http://www.carl-spitteler.ch/)
Works by or about Carl Spitteler (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3
A%22Spitteler%2C%20Carl%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Carl%20Spitteler%22%20O
R%20creator%3A%22Spitteler%2C%20Carl%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Carl%20Spitte
ler%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Spitteler%2C%20C%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22C
arl%20Spitteler%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Spitteler%2C%20Carl%22%20OR%20
description%3A%22Carl%20Spitteler%22%29%20OR%20%28%221845-1924%22%20AN
D%20Spitteler%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the Internet Archive
List of Works (http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=19)
Works by Carl Spitteler (https://librivox.org/author/10703) at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
Newspaper clippings about Carl Spitteler (http://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/pe/016878)
in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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