Keller, Gottfried, << GAWT freed >> (1819-1890), was the most famous Swiss author who wrote in German before the 1900’s. He is noted for his humor and a concern for the ethics of good citizenship. Keller wrote several cycles of shorter prose works called novellas. His best-known novellas appear in two series of The People of Seldwyla (1856, 1874). They are the comic “Clothes Make the Man” and the tragic “Romeo and Juliet in the Village.” Other important series include Seven Legends (1872), humorously modernized versions of popular religious tales; the historical Zurich Novellas (1878); and The Epigram (1882), a collection of ironic love stories.
Keller was born on July 19, 1819, in Zurich. He failed as a student of painting in Munich and lived in poverty and isolation in Germany for several years. His first major narrative work was the autobiographical novel Green Henry (1854, rewritten 1879-1880). Keller also wrote poetry, much of which he regarded as a service to his homeland, and so he refused to accept payment for it. He died on July 15, 1890.
