View source for Carl Spitteler

{{Short description|Swiss writer (1845–1924)}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
 | name        = Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler 
 | awards      = {{awards|[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]|1919}}
 | image       = Carl Spitteler 1919.jpg
 | imagesize   = 200px
 | birth_date  = {{birth date|1845|4|24|df=y}}
 | birth_place = [[Liestal]], Switzerland
 | death_date  = {{death date and age|1924|12|29|1845|4|24|df=y}}
 | death_place = [[Lucerne]], Switzerland
 | occupation  = Poet
 | education   = [[University of Basel]], [[Heidelberg University]]
 | language    = [[German language|German]]
}}

'''Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler''' (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in [[1919 Nobel Prize in Literature|1919]] "in special appreciation of his [[epic poetry|epic]] ''Olympian Spring''". His work includes both [[pessimism|pessimistic]] and [[hero]]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 (school)|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 theology in the same institution, at [[Heidelberg]] and [[Basel]], 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.<ref name=ea>{{Americana|wstitle=Spitteler, Carl|author=William F. Hauhart|inline=1}}</ref>

Later he worked in [[Russia]] as tutor, starting from August 1871, remaining there (with some periods in [[Finland]]) until 1879. Later he was elementary teacher in [[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.<ref name=ea/>

In 1900–1905 Spitteler wrote the powerful allegoric-epic poem, in [[iambic hexameter]]s, ''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 mind|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 [[Zentralbibliothek Zürich|Zürich Central Library]] and in the [[Dichtermuseum Liestal|Dichter- und Stadtmuseum]] in Liestal.

==In popular culture==
[[Carl Jung]] claimed his idea of the archetype of the [[Anima and animus|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]]".<ref>[https://tanjastark.com/2015/06/22/crashing-out-with-sylvian-david-bowie-carl-jung-and-the-unconscious/ 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)   ]</ref>

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

===Novel===
*''[[Imago (novel)|Imago]]'' (1906)

===Non-fiction===
====Essays====
*''Literarische Gleichnisse'' ("Literary Parables", 1892)
*''Lachende Wahrheiten ''(Laughing Truth, 1898)

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

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.dichtermuseum.ch/willkommen.html www.dichtermuseum.ch]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* [http://www.helveticarchives.ch/detail.aspx?ID=165136 Literary estate of Carl Spitteler] in the archive database HelveticArchives of the [[Swiss National Library]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160215102015/http://libraries.admin.ch/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon?skin=helveticat&inst=consortium&submittheform=Search&usersrch=1&beginsrch=1&elementcount=3&function=INITREQ&search=KEYWORD&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 Publications by and about Carl Spitteler] in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library
* {{Nobelprize}} 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311044213/http://www.carl-spitteler.ch/ Official Site of the Carl Spitteler Foundation]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Carl Spitteler}}
* [http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=19 List of Works]
* {{Librivox author}}
* {{PM20}}

{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1919 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Schiller Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitteler, Carl}}
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:Swiss Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Swiss Protestants]]
[[Category:Swiss writers]]
[[Category:Swiss writers in German]]
[[Category:Writers from Basel-Stadt]]
[[Category:1845 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Liestal]]