Short Description

Gottfried Keller was born in 1819 into an age of pioneering social change. Industrialization and the political reorganization of the Canton of Zurich and Switzerland dominated this dynamic era, as Zurich itself became a liberal economic metropolis. Economic and technological progress was mirrored in art by Realism, which came to an end in around 1890, the year of Keller’s death.

Gottfried Keller initially dreamed of a career as a landscape painter, but his paintings sold poorly. Inspired by political poetry from the years before the 1848 revolution, he then experimented with writing poems and plays of his own. Keller achieved fame with the partially autobiographical novellas Die Leute von Seldwyla and the novel Der grüne Heinrich, both of which are regarded as Realist works.

Keller’s literary works are among the most interesting and humorous products of Realism, while his novellas are part of global literature. This is reflected in the continuing academic interest in his texts far beyond the German-speaking world, the efforts made to preserve his legacy, and the many activities that uphold his memory. The Zentralbibliothek holds numerous editions of Keller’s works as well as his estate. Many of the documents have been digitized and can be viewed online.

The Gottfried Keller Edition was a pioneer project: alongside an impressive printed edition, Walter Morgenthaler and his team created an early digital edition to extend the usage of the classical print form. The contents of this initial application have now been transformed according to the newer TEI-XML standards, and the digital edition will be accessible to scholars via DaSCH in the future.