Carl Creator

Karl Schöpfer (born March 13, 1811 in Göttingen ; † 1876 ) was a German writer, journalist and private scholar.

Life

Schöpfer (also Schöpffer) wrote historical , robber and horror novels under at least thirty-one, but probably far more pseudonyms , and countless other writings on any conceivable popular or scientific subject. The extent of his literature has never been fully evaluated. According to his own statements, he had published 170 works by around 1840 alone. In the pseudonym dictionary published by pastor Andreas Gottfried Schmidt in 1840 there is an autobiography of Schöpf. Accordingly, he grew up with his maternal grandparents in Göttingen. His grandfather JA Suchfort, a former grammar school director, taught him languages ​​and history at an early age, so that “in his fifth year he could be considered a literary Sunday child.” Schöpfer's father, a preacher in the county of Stolberg-Stolberg, only looked after from 1822 raising his son. In 1825 Schöpfer attended the grammar school in Nordhausen, in 1827 the Latin school of the orphanage in Halle, before he began studying philology at the University of Halle in 1829 and moved to Göttingen after a year and a half. He read the Greek and Latin classics, a myriad of English, French, Dutch, Italian and German novels, "studied" mathematics, physics, geography, history and natural history and "devoured all medical, agricultural and technological writings with ravenous appetite." In 1832 he took a private tutor position, in 1833 he did his doctorate in Halle and then went to Nordhausen, where he worked as a private teacher and writer. In 1834 he passed the teacher's exam and successfully completed a trial year at the high school in Nordhausen. There he edited the "Thuringian Messenger" and from April 1838 on in Magdeburg the magazine "Der Chatuderer." From now on, robber and horror novels can no longer be proven, instead he linked to his popular folk literature and gave himself a "scientific" Painting. He wrote brochures, often under the name of Karl Schöpfer von Rodishain, about history, religion, homeopathy, hydropathy, child care, veterinary medicine, horticulture, astronomy, technology, etc. As early as 1846 he was published in a book by the Stolberg bookseller Karl Schneitler, which was developed in collaboration with the Physicist and court doctor Kröning had appeared and uncovered Schöpfers pseudonyms, accused of charlatanism and bag tailoring. Regardless of this, Schöpfer published several works in the 1850s and 1860s that, among other things, rejected the Copernican view of the world. In Kassel in 1854 he published the “Blätter der Truth. A monthly for contemporary communications from nature and human life ”. His possibly last book was in 1873 "Decision in matters of truth and reason against the extra-ordinary Prof. Bock in Leipzig," which sided with homeopathy.

Schöpfer's wife Irene Friederike also published under several pseudonyms. She wrote biblical verses about housekeeping, board games, the art of becoming beautiful, and more. Some of her works were reissued well into the 20th century. The Schöpfer couple obviously used more pseudonyms than any other German writer, any other German writer in the 19th century.

Works (selection)

Often under pseudonyms (Dr. E. Herold, Ludwig Scoper, CF Fröhlich, G. Bertrant, WCA Abenstein, Ferdinand Birkenfeld etc.).

• The Knights of St. John or The Conquest of Rhodus Island by the Turks in 1522. 1826
• Simon Tanzer, the most terrible, cruel and cheeky of all pirates, 2 volumes, Nordhausen 1826 a. 1828.
• Sallo Salini, the most terrible robber captain in Italy and Bohemia. A story of robbers and ghosts, Fürst, Nordhausen 1828
• Lomellina the beautiful guitar player in Malta, Nordhausen 1830
• The Askanienburger and the Arnsteiner, or: The victory of the just cause. Historical-romantic painting from the times of knights. 1831
• Eduardo da Rasto, the bold pirate admiral, or his deeds and adventures in Africa and European Turkey. A story from Spain's terrible inquisition courts, Voigt, Sonderhausen 1832
• Himlo Himlini, the robber captain in Spain with his dreaded gang. Large robber painting, 2 vols., Nordhausen 1833.
• The bloody heart, or the imperial wedding in Nordhausen: a horror painting from the beginning of the thirteenth century. Nordhausen 1834
• The sun offering, or the forest woman's fateful saying. Historical-romantic painting from the time of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards. 1834
• The horror ruins of Unkenburg and the pigtail of hell or ghost revenge and human hatred. 1834
• The bloodhounds. Horror scenes from the years 1324-1326. 1834
• Kaspar Hauser, or: the walled-in nun. Truth and Poetry, Nordhausen 1834
• Lucrezia Borgia, or The Pope's Daughter. Italian moral painting from the beginning of the sixteenth century. 1834
• Maria Tudor, or The Execution of the Favorite. A historical painting from the mid-16th century 1835
• Acrostic book verses. Wreaths of love and friendship wrapped around lovely women's and noble men's names, Müller, Nordhausen 1836
• Latest instruction to learn the excellent card games in such a way that you always have to win, Fürst, Nordhausen 1836
• Diavoletto, the black man from La Baggaria. Robber painting al fresco from the 13th century, in the times of the Sicilian Vespers, Fürst, Nordhausen 1837
• General principles of lighting art, Fürst, Nordhausen 1837
• Spit all works. For the first time in a complete collection and with a biography of the author accompanied by C. Schöpfer von Rodishain, 11 parts, Fürst, Nordhausen 1840 - 1841
• The medical leech, 2nd verb. Edition, Quedlinburg 1841
• Recueil des mots primitifs de la langue francaise. Handbook of the French root words, Magdeburg 1842
• What to trade ?: Old gold, old silver, old clothes? Eppes Rares from Judenpech in vain kosher anecdotes and poems, Fürst, Nordhausen 1842
• Medical-surgical foreign dictionary, Fürst, Nordhausen 1844
• The earth stands firm. Proof that the earth revolves neither around its axis nor around the sun, Berlin 1853
• The Bible doesn't lie! Explanation of the Mosaic Document of Creation, Büchting, Nordhausen 1854
• Uranos: Popular lectures on astronomy, to justify a view of the universe that is consistent with experience and observations and the separation of poetry from truth, Leipzig 1856
• Concise dictionary of advances in technology. Edited by Dr. Carl Schöpffer, Leipzig 1862
• The contradictions in astronomy, as they arise with the adoption of the Copernican system, but disappear with the opposite, Eduard Beck, Berlin 1869
• Decision in matters of truth and reason against the extra ordinary Prof. Bock in Leipzig. To educate and warn all owners of Buckscher books and readers of the Gartenlaube, Minde, Leipzig, 1873

literature

• Hans Joachim Alpers , Werner Fuchs , Ronald M. Hahn : Lexicon of horror literature. Fantasy Productions, Erkrath 1999, ISBN 3-89064-556-9 , p. 286.
• Holger Dainat: Abaellino, Rinaldini and the like. On the history of the robber novels in Germany, Tübingen 1996, p. 81.
• Michael Knoche: Volksliteratur and Volksschriftvereine in Vormärz. Literary theoretical and institutional aspects of a literary movement, in: Archive for the history of the book, Volume 27, 1986, p. 76.
• Heiner Plaul: Appendix, in: Karl May: Mein Leben und Streben, Reprint, 3rd edition, Hildesheim 1997, p. 357, note 72.
• Franz Schlegel: The different methods of healing art. Popular lectures, Otto Wigand, Leipzig 1853, pp. 194f.
• Andreas Gottfried Schmidt: Gallery of German pseudonymous writers excellent from the last decade , Grimma 1840. An autobiography of Schöpf that was sent to Schmidt and dates back to 1838 can be found under the name "WCA Abenstein".
• Karl Schneitler: A shame of the German press, proven in the literature of the Volksschriften, Kleinecke, Stolberg 1846.

Web links

• Literature by and about Carl Schöpfer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Georg Karl Ludwig Schöpfer - entry database "Project Historical Novel" of the Institute for German Studies at the University of Innsbruck
• Verlag Ernst Friedrich Fürst on NordhausenWiki