Karl Gutzkow

Karl Gutzkow was born in 1811 in Berlin. His father was an advisor of the prince. Young Gutzkow studied theology and philosophy under such luminaries as Hegel and Schleiermacher. Gutzkow started out as a collaborator of Wolfgang Menzel, but ended up his adversary. His innovative novel "Wally die Zweiflerin" was used as a pretext in order to ban the works of many other progressive writers, among them Heinrich Heine. Gutzkow was the editor of the "Telegraph für Deutschland" and was Germany's most influential critic. The novels "Die Ritter vom Geist" (1850/51) and "Der Zauberer von Rom" (1856/61) were very succesful; Gutzkow used his new Simultantechnik in them. Gutzkow was never a revolutionary, and he became more conservative with age.

Gutzkow was one of the first Germans who tried to make a living by writing. With his play "Uriel Acosta" he stood up for the emancipation of the Jews, which he also did in other works.