C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Gustav Freytag (1816–1895)
Freytag, Gustav (frī’täg). A distinguished German poet and novelist; born at Kreuzburg in Silesia, July 13, 1816; died at Wiesbaden, April 30, 1895. His first dramatic composition was ‘The Bridal Tour,’ a comedy (1844); it was followed by a little one-act tragedy, ‘The Savant’ (1844), and by a small volume of poems ‘In Breslau’ (1845); after which he produced ‘The Valentine’ (1846); ‘Count Valdemar’ (1847); and ‘The Journalists’ (1853). Among his works outside of the drama may be mentioned his great novel of social life ‘Debit and Credit’ (3 vols., 1855; 40th ed. 1893), followed by another novel of social life, ‘The Lost MS.’ (1864; 23d ed. 1893). His next work, ‘Ancestors,’ is a cycle of six stories portraying the German civilization from the beginning of historic times. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).