GUTZKOW, ginslo, Karl, German drama tist and novelist: b. Berlin, 17 March 1811; d. Sachsenhausen, near Frankfort, 16 Dec. 1878. He is best known in German literature by rea son of his connection with the group of writ ers known as He was born of an extremely poor family, not proleta rian, but of the lowest and most menial branch of employees. His father had become pietistic and puritanical in his outlook and de mands, and Gutzkow's later agnosticism is probably a reaction against the excessive reli giosity of his early surroundings. In 1829 he matriculated at the University of Berlin, under the faculty of philosophy. News of the 1830 July Revolution at Paris moved him deeply. The general atmosphere of radicalism pervading Europe at that time, and perhaps more specifi cally, a reading of the 'Life of Jesus,' by D. F. Strauss (q.v.), influenced Gutzkow in the com position of his first novel, 'Wally die Zwei flerin' (1835), which exalts the agnosticism and emancipated views of the heroine, Wally. There are incorporated in this book many ideas that Gutzkow had recently absorbed from French writers, notably Saint-Simon (q.v.), particularly the latter's theory of the emanci pation of the flesh. For a decade (1839-49), Gutzkow turned his attention to the German drama, which had declined rather sadly, in the hands of commercial exploiters and romantic book-drama traditions, to a very subordinate position; while only one of his dramatic works has permanent value (the tragedy (Uriel Gutzkow really made the German drama once more a dignified and living insti tution, dealing with subjects of interest to the people and treating them with dramaturgic skill. Wriel Acosta' (1846) is still one of the most popular German plays. Geutzkow had treated the same theme in a short story, 'Der Sadducaer von Amsterdam' (1833). The hero, a young Portuguese Jew living in Holland,. is excommunicated by the synagogue for having written a book of heresy. His love of the truth prevents him, in spite of his strong affec tion for his friends and brethren, from recant ing, and he commits suicide. Unlike Wriel Acosta,' the other good plays of Gutzkow are all in prose.
In turning his attention to the novel, Gutz kow was actuated by the desire to produce works that were modern not only in theme but also in treatment, and characterized by an ac ceptance of the latest achievements in philos ophy, and social psychology. He sets up the
following three principles as a guide for the novelist: (1) No longer is the novel to give a merely consecutive presentation of the events in the life of an individual hero; there is to be a simultaneous development of numerous per sons, groups and classes, so that the total m pression will be that of an organic society, and not merely an exaggerated notion of the im portance of certain individuals; (2) "Heroes' in the old sense of the word are to be dis carded; simple and sublime motives do not move them; they must have complexity and doubt and uncertain interrelations with other persons; (3) the writer must subordinate all the persons and events of his work to a domi nant idea that must govern the whole (*ideal unite), and must correlate all the persons and motives with this idea, thus producing a uni fied and coherent story (*real unite). In the pursuit of these principles, Gutzkow turned out two enormous novels, 'Die Ritter vom Geist& (1850-51, abridged ed., 1869), and 'Der Zau berer vom Rom) (1858-61, abridged ed., 1872). The former is a study of a revolutionary movement, a sort of ideal, organization, which is to assist its members, with the aid of a free press and of a guarantee of work, in the re birth of Germany after the revolution. The latter is an attack on the growing power of the Catholic Church. Both are confusing in the immensity of their details, and uninviting to the reader, as novels in nine volumes are not to the taste of the present day.
Gutzkow was essentially a journalist, a dis seminator of the opinions of others, and the lot of the journalist, with its distracting lack of concentration and unity of purpose, was his to a fatal degree. He fell into a condition of persecutory mania (1861-78), in the course of which he made fruitless attempts to settle down in various parts of Germany, finally com mitting suicide at Sachsenhausen. His other works are the dramas, 'Richard Savage' (1839) ; 'Wullenweber) (1848); (Zopf and Schwert) (1844); Was Urbild des Tartuffe> (1844); Wer. Konigsleutnan0 (1849); the critical writings (Briefe eines Narren an eine Narrin) (1832); 'Zur Philosophic der Ge schichte> (1835); Weber Goethe im Wende punkte zweier Jahrhunderte> (1855) ; 'Die Zeit genossen, ihre Schicksale, ihre Tendenzen, ihre grossen Charaktere> (1836-37).