AUERBACH

auerbach, berthold (1812-1882), german novelist, was born on the 28th of february 1812 at nordstetten in the wurttemberg black forest. his parents were jews, and he was intended for the ministry; but after studying philosophy at tubingen, munich and heidelberg, and becoming estranged from jewish orthodoxy by the study of spinoza, he devoted himself to literature. he made a fortunate beginning in a romance on the life of spinoza (1837), so interesting in itself, and so close in its adherence to fact, that it may be read with equal advantage as a novel or as a biography. _dichter und kaufmann_ followed in 1839, and a translation of spinoza's works in 1841, when auerbach turned to the class of fiction which has made him famous, the _schwarzwalder dorfgeschichten_ (1843), stories of peasant life in the black forest. in these, as well as in _barfussele_ (1856), _edelweiss_ (1861), and other novels of greater compass, he depicts the life of the south german peasant as "jeremias gotthelf" (albrecht bitzius) had painted the peasantry of switzerland, but in a less realistic spirit. when this vein was exhausted auerbach returned to his first phase as a philosophical novelist, producing _auf der hohe_ (1865), _das landhaus am rhein_ (1869), and other romances of profound speculative tendencies, turning on plots invented by himself. with the exception of _auf der hohe_, these works did not enjoy much popularity, and suffer from lack of form and concentration. auerbach's fame continues to rest upon his _dorfgeschichten_, although the celebrity of even these has been impaired by the growing demand for a more uncompromising realism. auerbach died at cannes on the 8th of february 1882. the first collected edition of auerbach's _schriften_ appeared in 22 vols. in 1863-1864; the best edition is in 18 vols. (1892-1895). auerbach's _briefe an seinen freund j. auerbach_ (with a preface by f. spielhagen) were published in 2 vols. (1884). see e. zabel, _b. auerbach_ (1882); and e. lasker, _b. auerbach, ein gedenkblatt_ (1882).