Auerbach

Auerbach, Berthold, the popular German romancer, was born of Jewish parents in 1812. After studying theology at Tubingen, Munich, and Heidelberg, he wrote an essay on the Jewish Nation and its Recent Literature, and devoted much attention to the doctrines of Spinoza, whose works he translated. In 1843 he discovered the true bent of his genius, and published his Dorfgeschichten or Village Tales, in which he depicts with marvellous skill the life, habits, and feelings of the peasantry of the Black Forest, his native district. Several charming novels were written by him during the next thirty years, the best of them being Barfussele ("The Barefooted Maid"), Auf der Hohe ("On the Heights"), Das Landhaus am Rhein, and Brigetta. He took a deep and patriotic interest in the war of 1870, and composed a history of its origin and circumstances. Numerous little stories from his pen appeared in periodicals, and in 1876 he produced a new series of Black Forest Sketches under the title Nach dreissig Jahren ("After Thirty Years"). He died at Cannes in 1882.