Georg Gottfried Gervinus
Georg Gottfried Gervinus was a prominent German literary and political historian, born in Darmstadt on May 20, 1805. He began his academic journey at the University of Giessen, later studying under the historian Friedrich Christoph Schlosser at Heidelberg. Gervinus became a noted professor of history and literature at Göttingen in 1835, where he published the first volume of his influential work, "Geschichte der poetischen National-Literatur der Deutschen," a comprehensive scholarly survey of German literature. His career took a turn in 1836 when he was expelled from Göttingen for protesting against constitutional violations by the Hanoverian king.
After a period of travel, he returned to academia as an honorary professor at Heidelberg in 1844. Gervinus was an advocate for a unified German state and played a role in politics by co-founding the journal "Deutsche Zeitung" and serving as a deputy in the National Assembly in 1848. Ultimately disenchanted with political affairs, he refocused on his literary and historical work, leading to the planning of his major series "Geschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts seit den Wiener Verträgen," and publishing a comparative study of Handel and Shakespeare in 1868. He passed away in Heidelberg on March 18, 1871, with his autobiography released posthumously by his widow in 1893.
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Georg Gottfried Gervinus
Writer
- Born: May 20, 1805
- Birthplace: Darmstadt, Germany
- Died: March 18, 1871
- Place of death: Heidelberg, Germany
Biography
German literary and political historian Georg Gottfried Gervinus was born in Darmstadt on May 20, 1805. He entered the University of Giessen in 1825 and went to Heidelberg in 1826, where he became the protégé; of historian Friedrich Christoph Schlosser. He worked as a teacher in a private school in Frankfurt, and he was appointed privatdozent at Heidelberg in 1830. He was made a regular professor of history and literature at Göttingen in 1835 following the publication of the first volume of his Geschichte der poetischen National-Literatur der Deutschen. Published in five volumes from 1835 to 1842, it was the first scholarly survey of German literature written with equal literary skill.
Gervinus was expelled from Göttingen in 1836 following his protest of constitutional violations committed by Ernest Augustus, the king of Hanover and duke of Cumberland. After several years of travel, he was appointed honorary professor at Heidelberg in 1844. He emerged as a staunch proponent of a national church and a strong, unified German state. He helped found the political journal Deutsche Zeitung, which led to his election as deputy to the National Assembly for the Prussian province of Saxony in 1848. Frustrated with the assembly’s failures, he retired from political life and devoted himself to literary and historical pursuits.
After retiring, Gervinus planned his eight-volume Geschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts seit den Wiener Verträgen (1855-1866) and published Handel und Shakespeare: Zur Asthetik der Tonkunst (1868), which drew a parallel between the composer George Frideric Handel and William Shakespeare and proposed similarities in their creative development based on their Germanic heritage. Gervinus died in Heidelberg on March 18, 1871. His widow published his autobiography in 1893.