Keywords

Switzerland, Gottfried Keller, literary realism, Seldwyla, Pankraz, economic conditions socioeconomic, industry, fiction, Romeo und Julia, Romeo and Juliet, Regel Amrain, Kammacher, Spiegel, Kleider machen Leute, Schmied, Liebesbriefe, Dietegen, verlorene Lachen

Abstract

Gottfried Keller was one of the best-known 19th-century Swiss authors of literary realism. This article compares and contrasts socioeconomic conditions of the Swiss during the Industrial Revolution with those of a counterfeit Switzerland that Keller fictionalized into a decalogy (10 thematically connected novellas) called "The People of Seldwyla." The most frequently quoted titles of the cycle are "A Village Romeo and Juliet" and "Clothes Make the Man."

Original Publication Citation

Swiss American Historical Society Review, vol. 55, no. 1 (February 2019)