Friedrich Gundolf
Friedrich Gundolf, born Friedrich Gundelfinger in Darmstadt, Germany, on June 20, 1880, was a prominent Jewish scholar and writer known for his contributions to German literature and intellectual history. Educated at prestigious universities, including Munich, Heidelberg, and Berlin, Gundolf became associated with the influential poet Stefan George, aspiring to rejuvenate German culture through an intellectual elite. He served as a professor of German literature at Heidelberg, where he taught from 1911 until his death in 1931, and became dean of the faculty of philosophy. Gundolf's scholarly work included notable biographies of literary figures such as Goethe, Kleist, and George, and he is recognized for his exploration of "monumental history," a concept inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche. Despite being an enemy of the Nazi regime due to his Jewish heritage, Gundolf's literary contributions were significant, with his work on Goethe particularly lauded. He passed away from cancer in 1931, leaving behind unfinished manuscripts, some of which were published posthumously. Following the rise of the Nazis, his works were banned, yet he remains an influential figure in the history of German literature and thought.
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Friedrich Gundolf
Writer
- Born: June 20, 1880
- Birthplace: Darmstadt, Germany
- Died: July 12, 1931
- Place of death: Heidelberg, Germany
Biography
Friedrich Gundolf was born Friedrich Gundelfinger in Darmstadt, Germany, on June 20, 1880, the son of Sigmund Gundelfinger, an assimilated Jew who taught mathematics at a technical high school. Educated at an elitist high school (gymnasium), the young Gundolf specialized in German literature and history at the universities of Munich, Heidelberg, and Berlin. After meeting poet Stefan George in 1899, he became actively affiliated with George’s circle of influential supporters who believed that an intellectual aristocracy might rejuvenate German culture.
In 1911, Gundolf became an instructor of German literature at Heidelberg, where he would continue to teach for the remainder of his life. During World War I, from 1916 to 1918, he served in the reserve army and gave lectures on literary topics to soldiers in France and Belgium. In 1920, the university promoted him to the rank of full professor and later named him dean of the faculty of philosophy. In 1926 he married Elisabeth Salomon.
Gundolf was widely recognized as an eminent scholar and a prolific writer. After publishing an influential book on William Shakespeare’s influence on the German spirit in 1911, he wrote literary biographies of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Heinrich von Kleist, and Stefan George, all of which became well known to German students of literature and intellectual history. Only one of his books was translated into English, Caesar Geschichte seines Ruhms (1922, The Mantle of Caesar, 1928), which was an account of the changing images of Caesar in the West.
Like other members of the Stefan George circle, Gundolf espoused a perspective called “monumental history,” borrowed from philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, which celebrated the great ideas and achievements of the leading lights of the past. As a Jew, Gundolf was naturally an enemy of the Nazi movement (even though Joseph Goebbels was once his student), and he was also involved in controversies with Marxists and left-wing thinkers, especially those of the Frankfurt school. Gundolf died from cancer on July 12, 1931. He left behind several unfinished manuscripts, some of which were published posthumously by his widow. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they proscribed his works.
During the first third of the twentieth century, Gundolf was one of the most prominent of the writers within the prevailing mode of literary analysis called geistesgeschichte (imperfectly translated as spiritual or intellectual history), which examined great thinkers and their ideas within their historical contexts. While all of his writings were highly respected, his work on Goethe was considered particularly outstanding. The fragments of his unfinished work on the theories and methods of historiography attracted considerable attention after his death.