KELLER, GOTTFRIED (1819-90). A Swiss novelist and poet, remarkable for his blending of the humorous and the tragic. the realistic and the romantic. After a vain attempt to become a painter at Munich (1840-42). he returned to his native Zurich and devoted himself to litera ture. From 1848 to 1854 he lived chiefly at Heidelberg and Berlin. and in the latter year was made First State Secretary (Staatssehreiber) of Canton Zurich, a post which he resigned in 1876. He died at Zurich in 1890. His first vol umes were poetry: Gediehte (Heidelberg, 1846) and 1"eue Gediehte (Brunswick. 1851). His poems were collected in 1863 (10th ed., 2 vols.. Berlin, 1893). By far his most significant work is the autobiographical romance Dcr gram- Hein rieh (1954; nnich altered for the better in a revi sion of 1870; 16th ed. 1897). Die ',rate ron Seld iryla (1856; 2d part 18761 is marked by the poetic faithfulness of its delineation of Swiss peasant character. Of its short stories, "Romeo
and Julie auf dem Do•fe" and "Der Schmied seines Meeks" are among the most finished in German literature. Keller published a volume of Sicbcn Legenden (1872: 4th ed. 1887) : two vol umes of Zurirher YoreUrn (187(1; Nth ed. 159(1) ; and other tales in Des Sinngedicht (1SS3; 10th NI. 1901). A satirical novel. .11artin Salander (1886). was his last work. Consult: Brahm, Gottfried Keller (Berlin, 1SS3) ; Vischer, alles am/ Ncucs, vol. ii. (Stuttgart, 1889) ; and Kiis ter, Gottfried Keller (Leipzig, 1900). Keller's f;esama/c/(c Wurke appeared in ten volumes (new ed., Berlin, 1900 et seq.), and selections from them have been translated into English, With a memoir, by Kate FreiIigrath-Krocker ( London, 1891).