Christian Reuter
Christian Reuter was a German author born in 1665, celebrated primarily for his humorous novel "Schelmuffskys wahrhafftige curiöse und sehr gefährliche Reisebeschreibung zu Wasser und Lande," which was published in the late 1690s and later translated into English. Reuter's upbringing was marked by financial difficulties following his father's death, leading him to pursue an education with support from family inheritance. His early forays into satire emerged from personal experiences, including a legal dispute with his landlord, which resulted in imprisonment and expulsion from law school. Despite these setbacks, he continued to write, producing various satirical works, including a notable opera libretto and a comedy that lampooned contemporary figures. His work often reflected a sharp, humorous critique of society and authority, influencing later authors like Gottfried August Bürger and Thomas Mann. Reuter's career included a position at the Dresden court, but it was short-lived due to the controversial nature of his writings. Ultimately, his life and career remain somewhat obscure, with records suggesting he may have died in the early 1700s, leaving behind a legacy rediscovered more than a century later.
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Christian Reuter
Fiction Writer and Playwright
- Born: October 9, 1665
- Birthplace: Germany
- Died: 1712
Biography
Christian Reuter, best known for his humorous novel Schelmuffskys wahrhafftige curiöse und sehr gefährliche Reisebeschreibung zu Wasser und Lande, written in the late 1690’s. It was later translated into English as Schelmuffsky’s Veritable Curious and Very Dangerous Travel Account by Sea and Land in the early 1960’s.
Reuter was born in 1665 in Germany. Both his mother, Anna Catherine (née Rodes), and his father, Steffen, came from gentry farmer families whose circumstances were declining. Reuter had an education of a lettered man of his times. His peers remarked on his strongly humorous and satirical nature. His father died just as he entered law school, leaving the family financially distraught. Reuter was put through school by his maternal great-grandfather’s estate.
Reuter’s first known attempt at satire was in response to an eviction. He depicted his landlord in an unflattering light. Reuter was a student—albeit an unusually older one—in Leipzig at the time in the early 1690’s. His landlord, one of the Muller family, sued, and Reuter lost. Thus, the author spent over three months in custody and had his piece, L’Honnéte Femme, confiscated.
Reuter used the time to rewrite two short comedies into an opera libretto, Le Jouvanceau Charmant Seigneur Schelmuffsky (the charming young nobleman Schelmuffsky). However, there is no certainty this piece was produced. Just prior to Anna Muller’s demise, Reuter wrote Letztes Denck-und Ehren-Mahl, der weyland gewesenen Ehrlichen Frau Schlampampe (last monument in honor of the late honest Madame Schlampampe), a satirical work playing upon the well-recognized character identified by the public with his previous landlord. He was held two more months and expelled from the university for six years. When Reuter appeared in Leipzig unannounced, his was expelled for life, never receiving his law degree.
Reuter used a pseudonym in his earlier works, E. S., possibly drawn from the character Eustachius Schelmuffsky in his running satire. It is believed that Reuter’s work served further as inspiration for the more acknowledged works of Gottfried August Bürger and Thomas Mann.
Reuter did find work, despite his lack of degree, as a secretary to Rudolf Gottlob von Seyfferditz, chamberlain of August II in Dresden at the beginning of the 1700’s. In 1700, Reuter published Graf Ehrenfried (Count Ehrenfried), a comedy parodying Graf Ehrenfried von Lüttichau, a common target for the times. Reuter’s lambaste of Catholic conversion may have led to his position at the Dresden court lasting only three years. He was in Berlin when he first published his real name attached to a work, a set of poems and plays for the celebration of King Frederick I’s birthday.
Inconclusive records may indicate that the author died early in the first decade of the 1700’s, whereabouts unknown. It was over 150 years later when Fredrick Zarncke identified the anonymous pre-Berlin works as Reuter’s.