Gessner, Salomon

▪ Swiss writer and artist

born April 1, 1730, Zürich

died March 2, 1788, Zürich

      Swiss writer, translator, painter, and etcher, known throughout Europe for literary works of pastoral themes and rococo style.

      Gessner was a town councillor and a forestry superintendent who also ran an important publishing house, from which he published his books with his own excellent etchings. His pastoral prose Idyllen (1756–72) and his epic poem Der Tod Abels (1758; “The Death of Abel”) were his most renowned works, making him the most successful and typical representative of a literary rococo movement. His pastorals were translated into 20 languages, including Welsh, Latin, and Hebrew. The English translation ran through many editions and was admired by the Romantic writers Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and Wordsworth. Gessner also translated some of the English poet Alexander Pope's “Pastorals” and two tales of the French writer Denis Diderot. The final collection of his works was published at Zürich in 1841.

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