Editing Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

{{Short description|Swiss poet and historical novelist (1825–1898)}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2014 }}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
| image            = Conrad Ferdinand Meyer.gif
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1825|10|11|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Zürich]], [[Switzerland]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1898|11|28|1825|10|11|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Kilchberg, Zürich|Kilchberg]], Switzerland
| occupation       = [[Poet]], [[historical novel]]ist
| language         = [[German language|German]]
| nationality      = Swiss
| citizenship      = 1867-1887
| genres           = [[Realism (arts)|Poetic realism]], [[expressionism]], [[comic novel]], [[historical fiction]]
}}

'''Conrad Ferdinand Meyer''' (11 October 1825 – 28 November 1898) was a Swiss [[poet]] and [[historical novel]]ist,<ref name=Collier's/> a master of [[literary realism]] who is mainly remembered for stirring narrative ballads like "Die Füße im Feuer" (The Feet in the Fire).

==Biography==
[[File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Betsy und Conrad Ferdinand Meyer - 000005100 7.jpg|thumb|Conrad Ferdinand Meyer with his younger sister Betsy, around 1855]]
[[File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Conrad Ferdinand Meyer im Kostüm - 000011622.jpg|thumb|Conrad Ferdinand Meyer in a costume, around 1883]]
Meyer was born in [[Zurich (city)|Zürich]]. His father, who died early, was a statesman and historian, while his mother was a highly cultured woman. Throughout his childhood two traits were observed that later characterized the man and the poet: he had a most scrupulous regard for neatness and cleanliness, and he lived and experienced more deeply in memory than in the immediate present.<ref name=Burns/> He suffered from bouts of mental illness, sometimes requiring hospitalization; his mother, similarly but more severely afflicted, killed herself.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Having finished the [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]], he took up the study of law, but history and the humanities were of greater interest to him.<ref name=Burns/> He went for considerable periods to [[Lausanne]], [[Geneva]], [[Paris]], and [[Italy]], where he interested himself in historical research. The two historians who influenced Meyer particularly were [[Louis Vulliemin]] at Lausanne and [[Jacob Burckhardt]] at [[Basel]], whose book on the ''Culture of the Renaissance'' stimulated his imagination and interest. From his travels in France and Italy (1857) Meyer derived much inspiration for the settings and characters of his historical novels.<ref name=Americana/> In 1875, he settled at [[Kilchberg, Zurich|Kilchberg]], above Zürich.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Meyer, Konrad Ferdinand|inline=1|volume=18|page=349}}</ref>

Meyer found his calling only late in life; for many years, being practically bilingual, he wavered between French and German. The [[Franco-Prussian War]] brought the final decision. In Meyer's novels, a great crisis often releases latent energies and precipitates a catastrophe. In the same manner, his own life which before the war had been one of dreaming and experimenting, was stirred to the very depths by the events of 1870. Meyer identified himself with the German cause, and as a manifesto of his sympathies published the little epic ''Hutten's Last Days'' in 1871.<ref name=Americana/> After that his works appeared in rapid succession. In 1880, he received an honorary doctorate from the [[University of Zurich]]. He died in his home in [[Kilchberg, Zurich|Kilchberg]] on 28 November 1898, aged 73.<ref name=Burns/>

==Works==
His works were collected into eight volumes in 1912.

===Novels===
The periods of the [[Renaissance]] and [[Counter Reformation]] furnished the subjects for most of his novels. Most of his plots spring from the deeper conflict between freedom and fate and culminate in a dramatic crisis in which the hero, in the face of a great temptation, loses his moral freedom and is forced to fulfill the higher law of destiny.<ref name=Americana/>

* 1876 ''Jürg Jenatsch'' – [[Graubünden]], [[Thirty Years' War]], a story of Switzerland in the 17th century<ref name=Collier's>{{Collier's|wstitle=Meyer, Conrad Ferdinand|year=1921|inline=1}}</ref> through the conflict between Spain-Austria and France. The hero is a Protestant minister and fanatic patriot who, in his determination to preserve the independence of his little country, does not shrink from murder and treason and in whom noble and base motives are strangely blended.<ref name=Americana/>
* 1891 ''Angela Borgia'' – [[Italian Renaissance]]

===Novellas===
Meyer's main works are historical novellas:
* 1873 ''Das Amulett'' (The Amulet) – France during the [[St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre]]
* 1878 ''Der Schuss von der Kanzel'' (The Shot from the Pulpit) – Switzerland<ref name=Americana/>
* 1879 ''[[Der Heilige]]'' (The Saint) – [[Thomas Becket]], Middle Ages, England
* 1881 ''Plautus im Nonnenkloster'' (Plautus in the Nunnery) – Renaissance, Switzerland
* 1882 ''Gustav Adolfs Page'' ([[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden|Gustav Adolf]]'s Page) – Thirty Years' War
* 1883 ''Das Leiden eines Knaben'' (The Suffering of a Boy) - France during reign of [[Louis XIV]]
* 1884 ''Die Hochzeit des Mönchs'' (The Wedding of the Monk) – Italy, [[Dante]] himself is introduced at the court of Cangrande in Verona as narrator of the strange adventure of a monk who, after the death of his brother, is forced by his father to break his vows but who, instead of marrying the widow, falls in love with another young girl and runs blindly to his fate.<ref name=Americana/>
* 1885 ''Die Richterin'' (The Judge) – Carolingian time, Grisons, introduces [[Charlemagne]] and his palace school<ref name=Americana/>
* 1887 ''Die Versuchung des Pescara'' (The Temptation of Pescara) – Renaissance, Italy – tells of the great crisis in the life of [[Fernando d'Ávalos]], general of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] and husband of [[Victoria Colonna]]<ref name=Americana>{{Americana|wstitle=Meyer, Conrad Ferdinand |year=1920 |first=Ewald A. |last=Boucke|inline=1}}</ref>

===Lyrics===
* 1867 ''Balladen''
* 1870 ''Romanzen und Bilder'' (Romances and pictures)
* 1872 ''Huttens letzte Tage'' ([[Ulrich von Hutten|Hutten's]] Last Days) – a short epic poem
* 1873 ''Engelberg''
* 1882 ''Gedichte'' (Poems)

===Legacy===

It is as a master of narrative [[ballads]], often on historical themes, that Meyer is mostly remembered. His fiction also typically focuses on key historical moments from the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]].

Meyer's lyric verse is almost entirely the product of his later years.<ref name=Burns>Friedrich Burns, ed., [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8565 ''A Book of German Lyrics''] (Project Gutenberg). {{PD-notice}}</ref> He frequently celebrated human handiwork, especially works of art. [[Rome]] and the monumental work of [[Michelangelo]] were among decisive experiences in his life.

==See also==
*[[Family romance]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* D'Harcourt, R., ''C. F. Meyer: Sa vie son œuvre'' (Paris, 1913)
* Langmesser, A. ''Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: Sein Leben, seine Werke und sein Nachlass'' (Berlin, 1905)
* Frey, A. ''Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: Sein Leben und seine Werke'' (Stuttgart, 1909)
* Taylor, M. L., ''A Study of the Technique of C. F. Meyer's Novellen'' (Chicago, 1909)
* Blaser, O., ''C. F. Meyer's Renaissance Novellen'' (Berne, 1905)
* Korrodi, E., ''C. F. Meyer: Studien'' (Leipzig, 1912)

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1259| name=Conrad Ferdinand Meyer}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Conrad Ferdinand Meyer}}
* {{Librivox author |id=805}}
* [http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2009/06/conrad-ferdinand-meyer-roman-fountain.html English translation of Meyer's ''Roman Fountain'']

{{German literature}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Conrad Ferdinand}}
[[Category:1825 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Zurich]]
[[Category:Swiss poets in German]]
[[Category:19th-century Swiss writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Swiss novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century Swiss poets]]
[[Category:Swiss male novelists]]
[[Category:Swiss male poets]]
[[Category:19th-century Swiss male writers]]