Simon Gfeller

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Simon Gfeller (born April 8, 1868 in Trachselwald ; † January 8, 1943 in Sumiswald ) was an Emmental teacher and dialect writer .

Simon Gfeller on October 8, 1903, portrait of Rudolf Münger

Life

Simon Gfeller was born in “Zuguet”, a single farm belonging to the Bernese municipality of Trachselwald. He grew up in simple farming conditions. In the Thal schoolhouse in Dürrgraben, a valley in Trachselwald, he attended primary school for nine years.

From 1884 he completed his teacher training at the Hofwil seminar near Münchenbuchsee . In 1887 he began teaching as a teacher in the village of Grünenmatt . In 1893 he married Meta Gehrig, also a teacher; they were given two daughters and a son. In 1896 he and his wife switched to the small school on the Egg in Lützelflüh . He worked there as a teacher for more than thirty years. In 1902 he temporarily took the pastor and writer Emanuel Friedli into his house and helped him write his first Bernese dialect volume, Lützelflüh . The two became close friends.

In 1910 his first book Heimisbach was published, a novel from rural life, in which, among other things, he strongly opposed alcoholism . The book was a great success. It was the first novel in the Emmental dialect . In 1914 he published his first written German book, the stories from the Emmental . In 1929 Gfeller retired in order to have more time to write and moved into a newly built house on Grabenhalde below the Egg school building.

1934 awarded him the University of Bern , the honorary doctorate . After his death on January 8, 1943, he was buried next to the graves of Jeremias Gotthelf and Emanuel Friedli on the sunny side of the church in Lützelflüh.

Create

In his novel Heimisbach , Gfeller described the landscape in the southern part of Trachselwald so precisely that it was easy to see that it was the Dürrgraben landscape. On the poet's hundredth birthday, 25 years after his death, the Dürrgraben valley officially changed its name to Heimisbach in honor of the popular and well-known poet.

Like his role model, Jeremias Gotthelf, who also worked in Lützelflüh, Gfeller described rural life in his books in a detailed and realistic manner, but without Gotthelf's great epic traits and with far fewer moral-theological digressions. This is probably one of the reasons that Gfeller was much more popular than Gotthelf during his lifetime in the Emmental.

In addition to Rudolf von Tavel , who wrote in the dialect of the town of Bern , Gfeller became one of the most successful dialect writers in Switzerland. His works are constantly being reissued and have become real longsellers in Switzerland .

The Simon Gfeller Foundation looks after his estate and runs the poet museum (the Simon Gfeller memorial room) in the old Thal schoolhouse in Heimisbach.

Works

Published in lifetime

  • Heimisbach. Pictures and facts from the bureau . Francke, Bern 1910
  • Stories from the Emmenthal , Bern 1914
  • Em hag noh. Müschterli u Gschichten us em Ämmethal , Bern 1918
  • Stony paths. Stories from the Bern area , Bern 1920
  • Meieschössli. Gschichtli for young and old . Stab-Bücher Basel 1921
  • Ämmegrund. Dialect history , Bern 1927
  • Drätti, Müetti and Dr Chlyn. Pictures from myr Buebezyt , Bern 1931
  • Seminarzyt. Chrütli u Uchrütli us eme Jugetgarte , Bern 1937
  • Eichbüehlersch. E Wägstrecki Bureläbtig , Bern 1941
  • Landbärner. Dialect layers u Müschterli , Bern 1942

theatre

  • Money and Spirit: Emmental dialect play in 5 acts based on Jeremias Gottelf's story . Francke, Bern 1910, revised version 1925
  • Hansjoggeli der Erbvetter: Emmental dialect in 4 acts based on Jeremias Gotthelf's story . Francke, Bern 1918

Published posthumously

  • Legacy. Notes from his diaries, ed. by Karl Uetz. Francke, Bern 1948
  • Collected short stories in 10 volumes. Francke, Bern 1952–57
  • Correspondence between Simon Gfeller and Otto von Greyerz 1900–1939, ed. v. Erwin Heimann. Francke, Bern 1957, ISBN 3-305-00027-9
  • Simon Gfeller Trilogy, ed. from the Simon Gfeller Foundation (contemporary illustrated volumes with selected stories, plus excerpts from diaries, letters and lectures by the poet)
    • Volume 1: Heimisbach. Pictures and facts from the office, 2001
    • Volume 2: Teaching warche u wyteri bärndütschi Gschichte us em Ämmitall, 2002
    • Volume 3: Stony Paths. Something that everyone in the Emmental has at their feet, 2003

literature

  • Peter Arnold: Simon Gfeller . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 702.
  • Heinrich Baumgartner : Simon Gfeller. Extended version of the lecture that was given at the Simon Gfeller celebration on the occasion of his 70th birthday in the Burgerratssaal in Bern. Bern [1938].
  • Valentin Binggeli: Simon Gfeller, the Emmental dialect poet. A biography based on personal testimonies and contemporary documents . Francke, Bern 1968, ISBN 3-305-00028-7 .
  • Valentin Binggeli: Egge u Grebe. The Emmental at Simon Gfeller's . Fischer, Münsingen 1984.
  • Christian Joss: There is nothing more fun, neither on the Wält. The person in the work of Simon Gfeller . Cosmos, Bern 1987, ISBN 3-305-00029-5 .
  • Georg Küffer: Four Berners: Emanuel Friedli, Otto von Greyerz, Rudolf von Tavel, Simon Gfeller . Haupt, Bern 1963 (Berner Heimatbücher, issue 92/93).
  • Karin Marti-Weissenbach: Gfeller, Simon. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Gfeller, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss dialect poet
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Trachselwald
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1943
Place of death Sumiswald