Fritz Reuter
Fritz Reuter was a celebrated German author known for his realistic writings in the Low German dialect, which has since become largely obscure. Born in Stavenhagen in the early 19th century, Reuter's literary career developed after he began writing in his native dialect, leading to significant public acclaim. His family background included a lineage of public service and a strict upbringing, which influenced his early education and career choices.
Reuter's life was marked by personal tragedy, including the early death of his mother and the loss of his younger brother. He initially pursued law at various universities but faced numerous challenges, including imprisonment for political reasons. After his release, he transitioned to a career in journalism and began writing fiction, achieving early success with a collection of humorous poems.
His best-known work, "Kein Hüsung," solidified his reputation, and he continued to write and publish until his death in 1874. Despite his literary contributions, the decline of interest in the Low German dialect has led to a waning recognition of Reuter's works in modern times. His legacy remains significant in the context of regional literature and cultural expression.
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Fritz Reuter
Author
- Born: November 7, 1810
- Died: July 12, 1874
Biography
Fritz Reuter, best known for his realistic writings in the now almost unspoken Low German dialect, was born in Germany in the first decade of the nineteenth century. While Reuter was not of an ambitious bent, his works achieved huge public acclaim, and their popularity only waned in recognition after the dialect became obscure. However, his best work is in Low German, as demonstrated by his finding popularity when he switched to his native tongue in which to express his prose.
Born in Stavenhagen, a town with a population of twelve hundred at the time of his birth, Reuter may have been the descendant of Christian Reuter, an author of the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Christian Reuter’s father, Georg Johann, was the mayor and judge of his hometown. Reuter’s fraternal grandfather was a minister. His father, a gentried farmer, follower of the Enlightenment, and strict adherent to the rules as a public servant, made a good living for his family during hard times, and looked to his son to show the same good business sense and prosper in his affairs. Reuter’s mother, Johanna Luise Oelpke, paralyzed and using a wheelchair as a consequence of giving birth to his younger brother, died when he was fifteen years old. The younger brother died at the age of two. Reuter’s father, not remarrying, adopted two subsequent daughters.
The year before his mother’s death, Reuter, educated until then by friends and relatives, was sent to a gymnasium in Friedland, and four years later transferred to Parchim. He did not make a promising student, but did show a strong interest and aptitude for drawing and painting. Reuter enjoyed sports at school, and held his own at mathematics, but was not motivated to submit the required assignments. Still, his father insisted on a career in law, and banned his pursing the arts. Reuter went to the University of Rostock, which matched his scholastic ability, and then transferred to Jena University. Rather than study, he devoted his time to the student group Burschenschaft Germania, but this involvement passed after the storming of a military facility and the mass round-up of parties of interest.
Reuter applied to Liepzig University the fall of the same year, but failed to be accepted. In Berlin a short time later, he was arrested as a temporary member of the student group at Jena. His lack of Prussian citizenship compounded his problems stemming from the arrest. Although his home Mecklenburg government made a bid to have him extradited, he was sentenced to death in Berlin, commuted to thirty years imprisonment, and later had his sentenced reduced to eight years.
After his first year of prison in Berlin, he was sent to Silberberg, then to Magdenburg, and then to Graudenz, East Prussia. His last years in prison were spent at a Mecklenburg facility where he gained release; the new Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, granted a general amnesty for those held under the previous political regime. He authored a humorously toned autobiography about this period in his life, Ut mine Festungstid (from my time in the fortress). However, the endurance of the prison life was a serious detriment to Reuter’s life. He was ill in prison, and remained susceptible to illness and alcohol the remainder of his days.
A broken man, Reuter asked his father for permission to study agronomy, but his father’s insistence to attempt law once again took him to the University of Heidelberg at the beginning of the 1840’s. Once again, it was an academic disaster. He went on to pursue farming, the family business, but was denied his birthright inheritance when his father’s will stipulated that he receive a pittance of the family wealth. He took comfort with his friendship of Fritz Peters, an administrator for the Talberg estate of Treplow, and soon met and wooed for an extended time a governess, Luise Kuntze, whom he married some five years later.
A participant in a revolution held in March of 1848, Reuter was appointed as delegate from Stavenhagen for the constitutional assembly. He found his niche as a political journalist, rather than a politician, and eventually turned still yet to agricultural journalism, although he never achieved his dream to farm. He eventually began teaching in the early 1850’s, and started writing works in Low German, but could not find a publisher.
Reuter borrowed money from a friend and published a set of poems, Läuschen un Riemels (funny stories and rhymes), whose small issue number were snatched up and became extremely popular. He continued publishing in this venue, and became an editor for Unterhaltungsblatt für beide Mecklenburg und Pommern, a weekly publication, and self- published Dei Reis’ nah Belligen (the trip to Belgium). A year later, he wrote three plays, moved to Neubrandenburg, and decided that the stage was not his genre. Shortly after, he wrote the best work of his career, Kein Hüsung (no homestead), a tragedy.
Reuter published about half a dozen significant pieces after his critical and popular success. He also was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University at Rostock. The author then moved to Eisenach in Thuringia, to a villa in seclusion that adversely affected the tone of his work. In the mid-1860’s, he returned to Germany to greet the new German Empire with his poetry and prose, avoiding the ensuing publicity. Although Reuter died in 1874, his work remained popular through World War II, when the decline of Low German reduced his readership.