ZAHN, tan, limn, Swiss novelist and writer of short stories: b. Zurich, 24 Jan.1867. In 1873 his father, an innkeeper, bought a hotel at Siders in the canton of Wallis and here Ernst obtained his first instruction in the Prot estant Elementary School. In 1875 he went to Zurich, where his graudparents took charge of him and sent him to the public schools, later (for three years) to the gymnasium. His leased, in 1880, the restaurant in the railroad station at Goscherlat the entrance to the Saint Gotthard Tunnel, here Zahn worked as a waiter in 1883. For a year and a half he also attended the Breidennein Interna tional Boys' School at Grenchen. canton of Solothurn. In all these various capacities, and in spite of a much interrupted education, he was energetically pursuing esery opportututy that presented itself to him for increasing his knowl edge. In the winter of 1885 he again worked as a waiter at Hotel Beaurivage. Geneva: in the winter of 1881i he was at Hastings, England, learning the language; in 1887 he was hotel clerk at the Hotel de la Ville. Genoa- He re turned to his father's restaurant in 18K becom ing a partner in 1894 and taking sole charge in 1897. The town of GOschenen made him a town councillor, and one of his first acts in office WAS to cause the erection of a monument for the ccnstructor of the Mount Saint Gotthard Tun nel and for the many laborers who met their death during its construction. In 1902 he
became judge of the Uri Criminal Court. in 1904 a member of the Cantonal Council of Uri, in 1908 its president. He received the honorary de give of Ph.I). fro mthe University of Geneva In 1909. Ile has written an unusual quan tity of stories of Swiss local life, which are very attractive in form and correct in tech nique. Some of his short stones seem like faultless works of art, especially 'Stephan der Schrnied' and 'Verona Stadler.' In his larger works, however, be bas not devoted his atten tion chiefly to the difficult task of analyzing serious conflicts of character, but rather to more or less superficial problems, with the result that he is drifting more and more into the position of a writer interested only in success, which will therefore perhaps not be of very durable character. Consult (Gesammelte Werke' (10 vols., Stuttgart 1910) ; (Herzenskimpfe' (1893); (Die Clari-Marie' (1904); 'Die Heiden des Alhags' (1905; 20th ed., 1912), 'Firnwind' (1906) ; 'Der Apotheker von Klein Wekwil' (Stuttgart 1913). A translation of 'Stephan der Schmied' is given in 'German Classics' (Vol. XIX, New York 1914).