GUTZKOW, Karl (1811-1878), one of the most distinguished of modern German novelists and dramatists, was born 17th March 1811 at Berlin, where his father held a clerkship in the war office. After completing his education at the Friedrichswerder gymnasium, he entered upon the study of theology and philosophy at the university of his native town, where, having had his interest awakened by the political and social questions of the time by the Paris revolution of July 1830, he, while still a student, began his chequered literary career by the publication in 1831 of a periodical entitled Forum der Journalliteratur. Although, as was to be expected, the serial was a failure and was soon discontinued, it procured for him the notice of Wolfgang Menzel, who invited him to Stuttgart to assist him in the editorship of the Literaturblatt. At the same time he continued his university studies, first at Jena, then at Heidelberg, and latterly at Munich. In 1832 he published anonymously at Hamburg Briefe eines Narren an eine Hämin, and in 1833 appeared at Stuttgart Hαha-Guru,Geschichte eines Gottes, a fantastic and satirical romance intended to ridicule the current conceptions of the divine. In 1835, on account of a difference with Menzel, he discontinued his contributions to the Literaturblatt, and went to Frankfort, where he became collaborateur with Duller on the Phönix, and also founded the Deutsche Revue. In the same year appeared Wally, die Zweiflerin, from the publication of which may be said to date the school of writers who, from their opposition not only to Romanticism but to all the time-honoured literary, social, and religious traditions, have received the name of “Young Germany.” The work was directed specially against the institution of marriage and the belief in ...revelation; and whatever attention it might have attracted from its own merits was tenfold increased by the action of the Government, which, besides condemning its author to three months’ imprisonment, decreed the suppression of all he had written or might yet write, and prohibited him from exercising the functions of editor within the states of the Bund. During his term of imprisonment Gutzkow employed himself in the composition of his treatise Zur philosophie der Geschichte, published at Hamburg in 1836, in which he opposed the Hegelian theory as to the nature and ends of history. On obtaining his freedom he went to Frankfort, where, shortly afterwards, he was married, and where he wrote several volumes on various subjects which he published at Hamburg and Stuttgart;' but finding himself hampered in his literary undertakings by the prohibitions of the Prussian Government, he removed in 1837 to Hamburg. Here he inaugurated a new epoch of his literary activity by bringing out his tragedy Richard Savage, which immediately made the round of all the German theatres, and first decidedly won the ear of Germany for the modern drama. Of his numern-ous other plays the majority are now neglected; but a few have obtained an established place in the repertory of the German theatre,—especially the comedies Zopf und Schwert (1844) and Das Urbild des Tartuffe (1847), and the tragedy Uriel Acosta (1847); the deep tragic interest, fine dramatic situations, and terse and pregnant diction of the last entitle it to rank among the best dramas of modem times. In 1842 Gutzkow paid a visit to Paris, of which he gave an account in Briefe aus Paris (Leipsic, 1842). After his return to Germany he resumed his stay at Frankfort, where he was chiefly occupied in preparing for the press an edition of his collected works, published in 12 volumes, 1845-46; but in 1847 he went to Dresden, where he succeeded Tieck as director of the court theatre. About the same time began that period of his literary activity to which belongs the series of remarkable works of fiction intended to depict the action and tendency of the principal intellectual, social, and religious forces in modern society. The chief of these novels are Die Ritter vom Geiste (f) vols., Leipsic, 1850-52) and Der Zauberer von Rom (9 vols., Leipsic, 1859-61). The latter, a study of Roman Catholic life in southern Germany, is generally regarded as his masterpiece; and its vigorous and trenchant delineations of character are not more notable than its keen analysis of the motives underlying religious professions, and its subtle penetration into the characteristics and tendencies of the various forms of religious opinion. In regard, however, to both works, it may be objected that their great length, their somewhat tedious dallying over unimportant details, the intricate nature of their plots, and the hampering influence of their controversial purpose, lessen considerably the legitimate effect of their many striking and original character portraits, their skilfully arranged dialogues and frequently powerfully dramatic scenes, and the cunning manner in which their incidents are blended into one whole. The success of Die Ritter vom Geiste suggested to Gutzkow the establishment of a journal on the model of Dickens’s Household Words, entitled Unterhaltungen am häuslichen Herd, which first appeared in 1852, and was continued till 1862. In 1864 he had an attack of insanity, during which he made an attempt upon his life; and although after his recovery he continued to write as voluminously as formerly, his productions show henceforth decided traces of failing powers. To this period belong the historical novels Hohenschwangau (f> vols. 1868) and Frits Ellrodt (3 vols. 1872); Lebenbilder (3 vols. 1870-72), consisting of autobiographic sketches; and Die Sohne Pestalozzis (3 vols. 1870), the plot of which is founded on the story of Kaspar Hauser. On account of a return of his nervous malady, Gutzkow in 1873 made a journey to Italy, and on his return took up his residence in the country near Heidelberg. Although some time before his death he had been confined to his sick chamber at Frankfort, its occurrence, 16th December 1878, was due to accidental suffocation from smoke.
The writings of .Gutzkow suffer in character from the controversy which embittered his life. His didactic purpose was too strong to allow his fine artistic faculty full freedom of action, and notwithstanding his true dramatic insight, firm grasp of character, rich vein of original thought, and wonderful comprehension of the principles at work in modern society, he did not possess that command of his materials which is necessary to mould them into poetic completeness. But although his popularity has not been commensurate even with his merits, no recent writer has exerted a more powerful influence on the opinions of modern Germany; and if his works are not destined to live by virtue of their inherent value, many of them will always be of interest as the mirror in which the intellectual and social struggles of his time are best reflected.
An edition of Gutzkow’s collected works appeared at Jena, 1873— 76. Since his death the issue of a popular edition has been undertaken, the first volume of which, containing the autobiography of his boyhood and his miscellaneous poems, has already appeared. His Rückblicke auf mein Leben, published in 1875, deals specially with that period of his life when he was director of the Dresden theatre. A complete biography by Johannes Proelss is now in process of preparation.
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