ROSEGGER, PETER (1843- )

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 734 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ROSEGGER, PETER (1843- ) , Austrian poet and novelist, known down to 1894 under the pseudonym Petri Kettenfeier, was born at Alpl near Krieglach in Upper Styria, on the 31St of July 1843, the son of a peasant. Until his seventeenth year he was employed as a farm hand and received no regular school education, though he learnt reading and writing from a retired schoolmaster who lived near. Unfit, owing to physical weakness, for the hard labour of agriculture, he was apprenticed to a journeyman tailor, and on his wanderings employed his leisure hours in educating himself. He soon composed poems and wrote stories. Some of these productions he sent in 1864 to Dr Svoboda, the editor of the

Graz

GRAZ [GRATZ]

Tagespost, who, recognizing Rosegger's extraordinary talent, interested himself in the

young

author, and with the assistance of friends enabled him to study (from 1865-69) at the Handelsakademie of

Graz

GRAZ [GRATZ]

. In 1869, encouraged by Robert Hamerling, Rosegger published his first

work

WORK

, a volume of poems in Styrian dialect, Zither and Hackbrett, which immediately established his reputation. As a result, the provincial diet of Styria accorded him a substantial stipendium (scholarship) for three years, which enabled him to supplement his studies by foreign travel. He now devoted himself entirely to authorship, and in 1876 founded the monthly periodical Der Heimgarten. On the occasion of the centenary of its reorganization the University of

Heidelberg

HEIDELBERG

conferred upon him, in 1903, the honorary degree of

doctor

DOCTOR (Lat. for " teacher ")

of philosophy.
Rosegger is one of the most fertile authors of

recent

RECENT

times. His fresh natural style, sound judgment and his fascinating descriptions of Alpine scenery and the life of its inhabitants have made him one of the most popular authors of Austria and Germany. These characteristics are displayed to

great

GREAT

advantage in Die Schriften des Waldschulmeisters (1875), Aus meinem Handwerkerleben (1880), Alpengeschichten (1896), Als ich noch

jung

JUNG, JOHANN HEINRICH (1740-1817)

war (1895), and in the love-story Mann and Weib (1879), while his simple religious mind is shown in Mein Himmelreich (1901), Erdsegen (1900) and Das ewige Licht (1897), and his attachment to friends in Gute Kameraden (1893) and Personliche Erinnerungen an Robert Hamerling (1891). Among his other works may be mentioned a volume of poems, Gedichte (1891), a popular play, Am Tage des Gerichts (1892), two books for boys, Waldferien (1887) and Waldjugend (1900), and the stories Das Siinderg ockl (1904), Wildlinge (1906) and I.N.R.I. Frohe Botschaft eines armen Sunders (1905), which has also been translated into English. He has also written several works which are autobiographical in character, such as Waldheimat (1873) and Mein Weltleben (1898).
Rosegger's Ausgewahlte Schriften appeared in thirty volumes (1881-94) ; a popular edition (1895-1900); his Schriften in steirischer Mundart (3 vols., 1894-96). See also A. V. Svoboda, P. K. Rosegger (1886); A. Stern, Studien zur Literatur der Gegenwart (1895); and H. MObius, P. Rosegger (1903).

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