The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Auerbach, Berthold

AUERBACH, ow'ėr-ba H, Berthold, German novelist: b. Nordstetten, Würtemberg, 28 Feb. 1812; d. Cannes, France, 8 Feb. 1882. He began to write while a student in Heidelberg and under the pseudonym &ldquo;Theobald Chauber&rdquo; produced a &lsquo;Biography of Frederick the Great&rsquo; (1834-36). He was the founder of the modern German &ldquo;tendency novel,&rdquo; in which fiction is used to influence public opinion on social, political and religious questions. Auerbach was an admirer of Spinoza, and the latter's philosophy is evident in his novels. A series of novels from the history of Judaism, under the collective title &lsquo;The Ghetto,&rsquo; of which &lsquo;Spinoza&rsquo; (1837) and &lsquo;Poet and Merchant&rsquo; (1839) were printed in separate editions, was followed by a translation of Spinoza, with a critical biography (1841). &lsquo;Black Forest Village Stories&rsquo; (1843), was received with universal favor, translated into nearly all European languages and established his fame. To this class of tales belong also &lsquo;The Professor's Lady&rsquo; (1847); &lsquo;Little Barefoot&rsquo; (1856); &lsquo;Joseph in the Snow&rsquo; (1860); &lsquo;Edelweiss&rsquo; (1861); &lsquo;After Thirty Years&rsquo; (1876). His first effort in the field of the novel, &lsquo;New Life&rsquo; (1851), met with little favor; but &lsquo;On the Heights&rsquo; (1865) constituted the crowning success of his literary career. It was followed by &lsquo;The Villa on the Rhine&rsquo; (1868); &lsquo;Waldfried, a Family History&rsquo; (1874); and &lsquo;The Head Forester&rsquo; (1879). His last years were embittered by the growth of anti-Semitism in Germany. His &lsquo;On the Heights&rsquo; is still popular. His works appeared in 18 volumes in 1892-95. See. Consult Bettelheim, A., &lsquo;B. Auerbach, der Mann, sein Werk&rsquo; (1907); Lasker, E., &lsquo;Berthold Auerbach, ein Gedenkblatt&rsquo; (1882), and Zabel, &lsquo;Berthold Auerbach&rsquo; (Berlin 1882).