Freytag, Gustav

The German novelist, dramatist, and critic, Gustav Freytag, (1816-1895) was perhaps Germany's most popular author from 1850 to 1870. He portrayed the struggles and triumphs of the rising middle class with engaging realism. As a young boy, Gustav Freytag read voraciously. At Breslau and Berlin he studied Germanic philology, a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics. He taught at the University of Breslau but abandoned a teaching career after several years to devote his energies to writing and scholarship. Freytag's most lasting achievement probably is his cultural history, "Bil...