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RICHTER, JOHANN PAUL FRIEDRICH (1763–...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 314 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RICHTER, JOHANN See also:PAUL See also:FRIEDRICH (1763–1825) , usually called See also:JEAN PAUL, famous See also:German humorist, was See also:born at Wunsiedel, in See also:Bavaria, on the 21st of See also:March 1763. His See also:father was a schoolmaster and organist at Wunsiedel, but in 1765 he became a pastor at Joditz near See also:Hof, and in 1776 at Schwarzenbach, where he died in 1779. After attending the gymsnasium at Hof, Richter went in 1781 to the university of See also:Leipzig. His See also:original intention was to enter his father's profession, but See also:theology did not See also:interest him, and he soon devoted himself wholly to the study of literature. Unable to maintain himself at Leipzig he returned in 1784 to Hof, where he lived with his See also:mother. From 1787 to 1789 he served as a See also:tutor at 'Ripen, a See also:village near Hof; and afterwards he taught the See also:children of several families at Schwarzenbach. Richter began his career as a See also:man of letters with Gronlandische Prozesse and Auswahl aus See also:des Teufels Papieren, the former of which was issued in 1783–84, the latter in 1789. These See also:works were not received with much favour, and in later See also:life Richter himself had little sympathy with their satirical See also:tone. His next See also:book, See also:Die unsichtbare Loge, a See also:romance, published in 1793, had all the qualities which were soon to make him famous, and its See also:power was immediately recognized by some of the best critics of the See also:day. Encouraged by the reception of Die unsichtbare Loge, he sent forth in rapid See also:succession See also:Hesperus (1795), Biographische Belustigungen unter der Gehirnschale einer Riesin (1796), Leben des See also:Quintus Fixlein (1796), Blumen- Frucht- and Dornenstilcke, See also:oder Ehestand, See also:Tod and Hochzeit des Armenadvokaten Siebenkds (1796–97), Der Jubelsenior (1797), and Das Kampaner Tal (1797). This See also:series of writings won for Richter an assured See also:place in German literature, and during the See also:rest of his life every See also:work he produced was welcomed by a wide circle of admirers.1825. See also:Schiller said of Richter that he would have been worthy of admiration" if he had made as See also:good use of his riches as other men made of their poverty." And it is true that in the See also:form of his writings he never did full See also:justice to his See also:great See also:powers.

In working out his conceptions he found it impossible to restrain the expression of any powerful feeling by which he might happen to be moved. He was equally unable to resist the temptation to bring in See also:

strange facts or notions which occurred to him. Hence every one of his works is irregular in structure, and his See also:style lacks directness, precision and See also:grace. But his See also:imagination was one of extraordinary fertility, and he had a surprising power of suggesting great thoughts by means of the simplest incidents and relations. The love of nature was one of Richter's deepest pleasures; his expressions of religious feelings are also marked by a truly poetic spirit, for to Richter visible things were but the symbols of the invisible, and in the unseen realities alone he found elements which seemed to him to give significance and dignity to human life. His See also:humour, the most distinctive of his qualities, cannot be dissociated from the other characteristics of his writings. It mingled with all his thoughts, and to some extent determined the form in which he embodied even his most serious reflections. That it is some-times extravagant and See also:grotesque cannot be disputed, but it is never harsh nor vulgar, and generally it springs naturally from the See also:perception of the incongruity between See also:ordinary facts and ideal See also:laws. Richter's See also:personality was deep and many-sided; with all his wilfulness and eccentricity he was a man of a pure and sensitive spirit, with a passionate scorn for pretence and an ardent See also:enthusiasm for truth and goodness. Richter's Sdmtliche Werke appeared in 1826-28 in 6o vols., to which were added 5 vols ofLiterarischer Nachlass in 1836—38 a second edition was published in 1840—42 (33 vols.) ; a third in 186o-62 (34 vols.). The last See also:complete edition is that edited by R. See also:Gottschall (6o parts, 1879).

See also:

Editions of selected works appeared in 16 vols. (1865), in Kiirschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur (edited by P. Nerrlich, 6 vols., 1884-87), &c. The See also:chief collections of Richter's See also:correspondence are: Jean Pauls Briefe an F. H. See also:Jacobi (1828) ; Briefwechsel Jean Pauls mit seinem Freunde C. See also:Otto (1829-33) ; Briefwechsel =vise/ten H. See also:Voss and Jean Paul (1833) ; Briefe an eine Jugendfreundin (1858) ; P. Nerrlich, Jean Pauls Briefwechsel mit seiner Frau and seinem Freunde Otto (1902). See further the continuation of Richter's autobiography by C. Otto and E. See also:Forster (1826-33); H.

During, J. P. F. Richters Leben and Charakteristik (1830-32); R. O. Spazier, J. P. F. Richter: ein biographischer Kommentar zu dtssen Werken (5 vols., 1833): E. Forster, Denkunirdigkeiten aus dem Legen von J. P. F.

Richter (1863); P. Nerrlich, Jean Paul and See also:

seine Zeitgenossen (1876) ; J. Firmery, Etude sur la See also:vie et See also:les oeuvres de J. P. F. Richter (1886) ; P. Nerrlich, Jean Paul, sein Leben and seine Werke (1889) ; F. J. See also:Schneider, Jean Pauls Altersdichtung (1901); by the same, Jean Pauls Jugend and erstes Auftreten in der Literatur (1906). All Richter's more important works have been translated into See also:English, Quintus Fixlein and Schmelzles Reise, by See also:Carlyle; see also Carlyle's two admirable essays on Richter.

End of Article: RICHTER, JOHANN PAUL FRIEDRICH (1763–1825)

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