AKA Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler

Born: 24-Apr-1845
Birthplace: Liestal, Switzerland
Died: 29-Dec-1924
Location of death: Lucerne, Switzerland
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Poet

Nationality: Switzerland
Executive summary: The Olympic Spring

Carl Spitteler wrote poetry about mythology, fantasy, and religion, even devising his own metrical scheme. Before achieving his success, he studied law and theology, but declined a pastor's appointment, deciding instead that he was an atheist. He worked as a tutor, newspaper writer, and school teacher, and eventually married one of his students. When his wife's mother died, they received an inheritance that allowed him to concentrate solely on his writing. He won the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature.

His masterpiece, Der Olympischer Frühling (The Olympic Spring), was published first in four volumes, and later rewritten by the author as a five-volume set. Carl Jung cited Spitteler's dichotomy-ridden poetry as evidence for his theories of introvert/extrovert distinction, and even sent one of his books to the poet, who was apparently unimpressed. Spitteler's only response was to announce that the poems that had touched Jung were completely devoid of meaning, and that he might just as well have written, "Spring is come, tra-la-la-la".

Wife: Marie op der Hoff (m. 1882)

    High School: Pädagogium Obergymnasium, Basel, Switzerland
    University: University of Zurich
    University: University of Heidelberg
    University: University of Basel

    Nobel Prize for Literature 1919

Author of books:
Prometheus und Epimetheus (1881, poetry)
Prometheus und Epimetheus: Extramundana (1883, poetry)
Schmetterlinge (Butterflies) (1889, poetry)
Friedli der Kolderi (1891, poetry)
Gustav (1892, poetry)
Litterarische Gleichnisse (Literary Parables) (1892, poetry)
Balladen (1896, poetry)
Der Gotthard (1897, poetry)
Conrad der Leutnant (Conrad the Lieutenant) (1898, novel)
Lachende Wahrheiten (Laughing Truths) (1898, essays)
Der Olympischer Frühling (The Olympic Spring) (1906, poetry, four volumes)
Gras und Glockenlieder (Grass and Bell Songs) (1906, poetry)
Imago (1908, novel)
Gerold und Hansli, die Mädchenfeinde (Two Little Misogynists) (1907, novel)
Meine frühesten Erlebnisse (My Earliest Experiences) (1914, memoirs)
Prometheus der Dulder (Prometheus the Sufferer) (1924, poetry)

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