Jean Paul
| Johann Paul Friedrich Richter | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Jean Paul by Heinrich Pfenninger (1798)
|
|
| Born | Johann Paul Friedrich Richter 21 March 1763 Wunsiedel, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 14 November 1825 (aged 62) Bayreuth, German Confederation |
| Pen name | Jean Paul |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Leipzig |
| Period | 1783–1825 |
| Genre | Humorous novels and stories |
| Subject | Education, politics |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable awards |
PhD (Hon): University of Heidelberg (1817) |
Jean Paul (German: [ʒɑ̃ paʊl]; 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825), born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.
Jean Paul was born at Wunsiedel, in the Fichtelgebirge mountains (Franconia). His father was an organist at Wunsiedel. In 1765 his father became a pastor at Joditz near Hof and, in 1767 at Schwarzenbach, but he died on 25 April 1779, leaving the family in great poverty. After attending the Gymnasium at Hof, in 1781 Jean Paul went to the University of Leipzig. His original intention was to enter his father's profession, but theology did not 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 mother. From 1787 to 1789 he served as a tutor at Töpen, a village near Hof; and from 1790 to 1794 he taught the children of several families in a school he had founded in nearby Schwarzenbach.
Jean Paul began his career as a man of letters with Grönländische Prozesse ("Greenland Lawsuits"), published anonymously in Berlin in 1783–84, and Auswahl aus des Teufels Papieren ("Selections from the Devil's Papers", signed J. P. F. Hasus), published in 1789. These works were not received with much favour, and in later life even their author had little sympathy for their satirical tone.
Jean Paul's outlook was profoundly altered by a spiritual crisis he suffered on November 15, 1790, in which he had a vision of his own death. His next book, Die unsichtbare Loge ("The Invisible Lodge"), a romance published in 1793 under the pen-name Jean Paul (in honour of Jean-Jacques Rousseau), had all the qualities that were soon to make him famous, and its power was immediately recognized by some of the best critics of the day.
...
Wikipedia