Carl Gottlob Cramer

Carl Gottlob Cramer

Carl Gottlob Cramer (born March 3, 1758 in Pödelist ( Burgenlandkreis ), † June 7, 1817 in Drei 30acker ) was a German writer and forest adviser . The author of knight and robber novels has also been active in forest science as a teacher at the Forest Academy in Drei 30acker .

Biographical summary

The fourth of five children, the " Meiningische Ariost ", as Carl Gottlob Cramer from Ludwig Tieck was once jokingly called in allusion to Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso , saw the light of day on March 3, 1758 in the small Saxon village of Pödelist near Freyburg an der Unstrut World. His father, Johann Samuel Cramer (1715–1792) was a country pastor, his mother Johanne Friederike, née Völkner, the daughter of pastor Friedrich Völkner. As was customary at the time, Cramer probably received his basic school education from his father before he was admitted to the Princely School at Pforta ( Schulpforta ) on October 25, 1771 at the age of 13 .

“ I learned to obey in one of the strictest schools; but also laid the foundation for a firmness with which I am master of my sphere. I still thank my dormant teachers in the earth for that regular rigor. “(Hyssop Part I, p. 51).

On March 3, 1777, the now nineteen-year-old Cramer left the school with the proper completion of the valediction work ( see also: Adelheid Chlond, p. 12, note 16) and, after a short stay in Wittenberg, moved on to Leipzig to study theology . Nothing is known precisely about the duration of this course. From his writings, however, it emerges that, in addition to theological lectures , he was very fond of those of the physician and philosopher Ernst Platner , an enlightened and undogmatic teacher. The influence of this teacher, in addition to the unfortunate economic situation and the low social status that the country pastors enjoyed at the time, probably led to the fact that he never entered a pulpit after completing his studies as a candidate for the preaching office. The experiences from his student days are reflected in his Septimus Storax . Here he describes the life of a poor theology student quite vividly.

“ He suffered from hunger and grief, [he] denied himself all the joy of life, [since he] had no channels for scholarships, which in the meantime were ridden, gambled and wasted by the rich. "

From completing his studies (around 1782) to 1795, Cramer lived as a private scholar, first in Weißenfels and then in Naumburg . His income came mainly from his writing. During this period he published many of his first successful, mostly multi-volume novels, worked for various magazines and also edited paperback books and anthologies.

With the novel Life and Adventure of Karl Saalfeld, a relegated student , he first emerged as a writer at the age of twenty-four. In the following years he published other works in quick succession. Its literary fame was founded on the adventure novel Life and Opinions, also Strange Adventures of Erasmus Schleicher, a traveling mechanic , published from 1789 to 1791 in four parts . The novels The German Alcibiades , Hasper a Spada and Adolph the Kühne, Raugraf von Dassel quickly made him one of the most widely read authors of his time. In 1794 alone he launched four new novels ( Gotthold Tamerlan , The Brown Robert , The Strokes of Genius and The Lame Quail Peter ). Cramer's novel titles had become a brand name. Works were published with the notation “From the author of Hasper a Spada ” or marked as “side pieces” or “counterparts” to titles by Cramer that were not written by him, but by other authors who only used the famous name to bring their works safely to the public. Cramer's recipe for success lay in the successful mixture of various stylistic elements of the time, as Reinhard Wittmann aptly sums up: “All of Cramer's novels are mixed with a good portion of biting, albeit superficial, time and social criticism, their formal versatility is sometimes reminiscent of Jean Paul , like his clever ones Colportage effects to a Johannes Mario Simmel . His style is just as unmistakable in the chivalric novels as in the satires, in the ghost stories as in the erotic works. "

Since he was one of the most popular writers of his time alongside August Heinrich Julius Lafontaine, Cramer was able to make a reasonable living from his writing and later drew on this success in poor economic times. Even Jean Paul once humorously mentioned that the people of Meiningen would see his works with little interest, since they were well supplied with reading material from Cramer's novels. Cramer had clear ideas about his appeal to the audience and he emphasized this again and again when he mostly condescendingly mentioned in the preface to his works the "gentlemen reviewers" who, with a few exceptions, condemned his writings as rabble, immoral and mean:

" ... it is all of us what you grumble about us; if we only hit the tone in which hearts and minds of our age are in tune (as in 'Lilli von Aarenstein') ”.

Cramer's economic success was evident in the numerous editions, reprints and dramatizations of his works. This self-confidence is shown, for example, in a letter dated September 1, 1791 to the bookseller Kühne in Wittenberg. Here he laid down his exact conditions for the delivery of a manuscript and emphasized that this was why he had to communicate it so precisely in advance that he did not wish to discuss it. Cramer was not exclusively, as his critics repeatedly pointed out, devoured by the reading mob, but his works, as biographical legacies prove, also belonged to the youth reading of some romantic poets. Even higher-ranking personalities read his works with enthusiasm. Many of the surviving copies of Cramer's works have noble bookplates or corresponding ownership notices. In addition, he dedicated many of his novels to noble personalities. Georg I , Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen , particularly valued the works of Cramer. At the beginning of December 1794, Cramer received the duke's call to his court for the first time. In a decree of December 28, 1794, he was appointed ducal forest council. After another letter from the Duke on May 5, 1795, Cramer decided to move to Meiningen in October . He was looking for a permanent position to marry Chr. Friederike Buhle (born June 18, 1774), who came from an apparently wealthy Naumburg family. The writing profession was not yet fully recognized socially in order to be able to establish a household on it. In a letter from Naumburg dated October 10, 1795 to the Voss bookstore in Leipzig, Cramer warned for money that he needed for the move.

" ... is it possible to send me the 50 thaler promised at Easter ... When you set up your business, you certainly needed a lot of money, and it would be good if you could go about your business without worries; So judge how it must seem to me, since I am just about to move to Meiningen with sackcloth and baggage ... But it would have to happen in the coming week - by the 20th at the most; because then I leave. "

Cramer lived with his wife and three children, Bertha (1796), Aurora (1797) and Franz (1801) in Meiningen until 1809. The circumstances did not match the promises that had made him leave Naumburg. His employment was delayed for a long time and the promised good salary as well as compensation for the losses from the sale of his wife's Naumburg property fell far short of the expectations. The "salary" consisted mainly of natural produce, and Cramer probably had to repeatedly send new letters of appeal to the Duke to meet his demands. The house he lived in had a mortgage on which Cramer could not pay the interest. The house is mentioned by Ludwig Bechstein in his work on Thuringia:

“ ... Otto led his friends through Marktstrasse ... then referred to a third (house) as the one that the prolific novelist Carl Gottlob Cramer once owned before he worked as a teacher at the nearby forestry academy thirty acres (Thirty-acres; this is a district of today Meiningen ) found another residence and finally a grave there. "

Cramer's economic situation continued to deteriorate. After the death of his ducal patron on December 24, 1803, he again had to fight with the Duchess to keep the promises made by Duke Georg. How dependent Cramer was on the evidence of grace from the ducal family can be seen from the numerous letters of petition that are in a file in the Thuringian State Archives (see also Adelheid Chlond p. 19, note 42). He was only able to take up his position as a teacher at the Forestry Academy in Drei 30acker near Meiningen, which was founded in 1801. There he received free lodging for himself and his family in the manor house. His teaching covered the subjects cameralistics , Forest Protection , Forest Utilization , Forest Agency (through its Directorate lectures there in which he to move to the desire of students to lecture a handwritten note, which proposes an exchange of lecture hours; Autograph in Krackow). He also gave lectures on the German style and supervised the students. His pay was meager. Cramer asked the Duchess several times for an increase in the amounts:

" ... to now add the eighty thalers that are still missing from my salary and to put myself on a level with my other colleagues. “(Letter of October 15, 1815).

Although the founder and head of the forest academy, Johann Matthäus Bechstein (adoptive father of Ludwig Bechstein ) advocated this equality, Cramer received a negative decision on March 5, 1816 from the Duchess. He always had to fight for his credits. In August 1816, Cramer pleaded for two measures of oats, otherwise he would have to kill all his chickens and geese because he lacked feed (autograph in Krackow ). On May 31, 1817, shortly before his death, Cramer again submitted an unsuccessful request to improve his pay.

As early as 1804, Cramer was plagued by diseases with increasing frequency. As a result, his second source of income, writing, increasingly suffered, which meant that he could publish fewer works. His literary performance curve had passed its zenith. Its success with the public decreased from 1803. The way in which Cramer, after the death of his friend and publisher Fleischer, in a letter of December 29, 1805, praised two of his works to the bookseller Joachim in Leipzig, showed a dwindling sense of self-worth. Instead of clear demands, as in the letter to the bookseller Kühne mentioned at the beginning, he now made "suggestions" for the equipment, and he was also cautious about the remuneration:

" If you say yes, my conditions should be very tolerable ..." and at the end: "We will agree. So do you have an affection for my muse? "

Despite his depressing economic and unsatisfactory social position, his contemporaries described him as a friendly and loving family man, like Ludwig Bechstein, who, as his son Franz's playmate, went in and out of the writer's house almost every day. “ He worked at a standing desk, undeterred by our games and the entertainment of his wife and daughters. They honored him very much and placed great value on the father's intellectual works. “(Bechstein quoted from Adelheid Chlond, p. 24). In 1803, Ludwig Tieck described Cramer as a tall, stout man with a pockmarked face and a harsh, hard voice.

" He spoke in a strange mixture of the most exuberant and basest idioms, swear words became an expression of recognition in his mouth " (Köpke, L. Tieck, memories from the life of the poet).

Although Cramer had imposed ever greater abstinence and had already used up the savings from the writers' fees and large parts of his wife's fortune, his economic situation deteriorated more and more. When he died in the year 1817 on June 7th after a long suffering, he was in debt, leaving his wife with three unserved children in insecure circumstances.

Works

• History of Karl Saalfeld, a relegated student , Leipzig 1782
• Human fates, a story from the eighteenth century , Leipzig 1782
• Adolph Freiherr von Rubin, a women’s story , Leipzig 1784
• Adelheim, a Swiss story , Leipzig 1778
• Also a word on the occasion of the Turkish War, from a patriotic disabled officer to his compatriots , Weißenfels 1788
• Life and opinions, including strange adventures by Erasmus Schleicher, a traveling mechanic , Leipzig 1789–1791
• The German Alcibiades , Leipzig 1790–1791
• Hermann von Nordenschild, called Unstern. As an appendix and addendum to the German Alcibiades , Leipzig 1791–1792
• Adolph the Kühne, Raugraf von Dassel , Weißenfels 1792
• Lament for Ludwig XVI , Leipzig 1792
• Life and opinions, including strange adventures by Paul Ysops, a reduced court jester , Leipzig 1792–1793
• Hasper a Spada. A legend from the thirteenth century , Leipzig 1792–1793
• Lawsuit for Marie Antoinette von Oestreich , Leipzig 1793
• Plexippus, or the aspiring commoner , Leipzig 1793
• Scenes from the life of Johann Friedrich de Großmüthigen, last Elector of the Ernestine line , Leipzig 1793
• Events Heinrich Roberts , Riga 1794
• Life and opinions, including the strange adventures of Gotthold Tamerlan, a traveling Moravian , Offenbach 1794
• Life, deeds and sayings of the lame Wachtel-Peters , Leipzig 1794
• The clever man , Leipzig 1795–1797
• The brown Robert and the blonde Nandchen , Leipzig 1794
• The tournament in Nordhausen in 1263 , [o. O. u. Year: before 1795?]
• The hunter girl , Leipzig 1796
• Sorrows and joys of the honest Jacob Luley, a martyr of truth , Leipzig 1796–1797
• Peter Schmoll and his neighbors , Rudolstadt 1798
• Hans Stürzebecher and his son , Leipzig 1798
• The Harp Girl , Rudolstadt 1799
• The dangerous hours , Weißenfels 1799
• Bellomo's last evening of my life , Leipzig 1800
• Poor Görge , Leipzig 1800
• Grillenthal , Rudolstadt 1801
• The bachelorette party , Arnstadt and Rudolstadt 1800
• The journey to the wedding , Leipzig 1800
• Miss Runkunkel and Baron Sturmdrang , Leipzig 1800
• Zoar, the chosen one , Berlin 1800
• Friedrich von Eisenbart and Baron Sturmdrang , Leipzig 1801
• Stella's Spring of Life , Leipzig 1801
• Hans and Görge. A family painting , Berlin 1801
• Frenzies of love , Arnstadt and Rudolstadt 1801
• Life and deeds of the noble Mr. Kix von Kaxburg , Leipzig 1801–1802
• Julius, the rejected , Arnstadt and Rudolstadt 1802
• The Dom-Schütz and his journeymen , Leipzig 1803
• Funny stories and strokes of genius. First part , Leipzig 1803
• The beautiful refugee , Arnstadt and Rudolstadt 1803
• Scenes from the times of the Reformation , Dresden 1803
• Confession of the ex-minister Hirkus , Leipzig 1806
• Ritter Euros and his friends , Leipzig 1805
• Life and fate of the honest Septimus Storax, a cross brother of Erasmus Schleicher , Leipzig 1806
• The lucky mushroom , Leipzig 1808–1809
• Life and fate of Walther of an officer who fell in the battle of Jena , Hamburg 1812 [?]
• The milk girl , Bremen and Aurich 1812 [?]
• The life and fate of Friedrich von Hellborn, an officer happily returned from the Spanish war , Hamburg 1814
• Song of triumph of the wonderful victories of the Germans over the French and their ex-emperor Napoleon […] , Gotha 1814
• The Iron Cross , Hamburg 1815
• Joys and sorrows of the noble Baron Just Friedrich at the Semmelburg , Leipzig 1817
• The Minister and the Leib-Schneider , Hamburg 1818

Bibliography (selection)

Complete representations of trivial literature from the Goethe era

• Johann Wilhelm Appell: The knight, robber and horror romance. On the history of German entertainment literature. Leipzig 1859.
• Rudolf Bauer: The historical trivial novel in Germany at the end of the 18th century. Dissertation . Munich 1930.
• Marion Beaujean: The trivial novel in the second half of the 18th century. The origins of the modern entertainment novel. Bonn 1964.
• Eva D. Becker: The German novel around 1780. Heidelberg 1964.
• Rudolf Fürst: The forerunners of the modern novella in the 18th century. A contribution to comparative literary history. Hall 1897.
• H. Germer: The German Novel of Education 1792-1805. A complete bibliography and analysis. Bern 1968.
• Martin Greiner: The emergence of modern entertainment literature. Studies on the trivial novel of the 18th century. Ed. U. edit by T. Poser. Reinbek near Hamburg 1964.
• Carl Müller-Fraureuth: The knight and robber novels. A contribution to the educational history of the German people. Hall 1894.
• Hainer Plaul: Bibliography of German-language publications on entertainment and trivial literature from the last third of the 18th century to the present. Leipzig 1980.
• Hainer Plaul: Illustrated history of trivial literature. Leipzig 1983.
• Marianne Thalmann: The trivial novel of the 18th century and the romantic novel. A contribution to the history of the development of secret society mysticism. Berlin 1923.
• Reinhard Wittmann: On the trivial literature of the Goethe era. Notes by a collector. In: From the second-hand bookshop. No. 5, 1976, p. A 133.

To Carl Gottlob Cramer

• Karl Goedeke: Outline of the history of German poetry from the sources. 2., completely new edit. Edition. Volume 5, Dresden 1893. (Contains a bio-bibliographical index on pages 509-511, but it is imprecise).
• Hugo Hayn, Alfred N. Gotendorf: Bibliotheca Germanorum Erotica & Curiosa. Volume 1, Munich 1913. (Contains on pages 682-699 an improved list of Cramer's works compared to Goedeke).
• Adelheid Chlond: Carl Gottlob Cramer. A contribution to the history of entertainment literature in Goethe's time. Phil. Diss. Halle / Saale 1957. (So far the most comprehensive work on the author, which for the first time deals with his comic and political-satirical novels in addition to the knight and robber novels. It also contains an outline of Cramer's life and his position in the social structure of the time as well as extensive literature references and some location references).
• Hans Frch. Foltin: Karl Gottlob Cramer's 'Erasmus Schleicher' as an example of an early entertainment or trivial novel. In: Studies on Trivial Literature. Frankfurt am Main 1968, pp. 57-81.
• Hans Frch. Foltin: Epilogue to 'Adolph the Kühne, Rauhgraf von Dassel ...'. Hildesheim 1979, pp. 273 * -295 *.
• Wolfgang Menzel: History of German poetry from the oldest to the most recent. New edition. Volume 3, Leipzig 1875. (Contains brief synopsis of several of Cramer's works).
• Michael Olderdißen: Carl Gottlob Cramer. Directory of independently published works. Bielefeld 1994.
• Franz-Ulrich Jestädt, Thomas Kaminski: 250 years (1758–2008): August Lafontaine [and] Carl Gottlob Cramer. Ulenspiegel, Erfurt 2008

Unprinted sources / autographs

• Consistory file Q 39 of the Thuringian State Archives in Meiningen (castle), containing files from the Ducal S. Secret Chancellery in Meiningen, relating to the Ducal Forest Academy in Drei 30acker, the employment and salary of teachers, in particular those of the Forestry Councilor Carl Gottlob Cramer 1794–1826.
• Chronicle of the evangelical pastors in Pödelist near Freyburg / Unstrut.
• Cramer, Carl Gottlob. Valediction work. Gate on March 3, 1777. - Stored in the Schulpforta state school.
• - That. Album sheet from February 13, 1777. - Preserved in the State Library of Preuss. Cultural heritage, Berlin.
• - That. Letter to the bookseller Kühne in Wittenberg dated October 1, 1791. - In the Preuss State Library. Cultural heritage, Berlin.
• - That. Letter to the merchant Puhle in Naumburg dated May 25, 1794. - Stored in the Leipzig University Library.
• - That. Letter to the bookstore Voss u. Comp. in Leipzig on October 10, 1795. - Private ownership.
• - That. Letter (presumably to the printer Haas in Basel) dated March 25, 1797. - In the Freie Deutsche Hochstift, Frankfurt am Main.
• - That. Letter (probably to the publisher JB Gg. Fleischer in Leipzig) dated June 17, 1797. - In the library of the Pforta State School.
• - That. Letter (presumably to the publisher Joachim in Leipzig) dated December 29, 1805. - Private possession.
• - That. Letter to Wöhler (stable master in Frankfurt am Main and friend of Cramers) dated May 6, 1814. - Private property.
• - That. Note sheet to von Albrecht in Meiningen [?] Dated August 2, 1816. - Preserved in the Jagiellonian Library, Cracow / Poland.
• - That. Note sheet [lecture note]. [O. O. (Drei 30acker) and D.] - kept in the Jagiellonian Library, Cracow / Poland.

Web links

Commons : Carl Gottlob Cramer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Carl Gottlob Cramer  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Carl Gottlob Cramer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Carl Gottlob Cramer  in the German Digital Library
• J. Franck:  Cramer, Carl Gottlob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 558 f.