Scheffel, Joseph Victor von

▪ German writer

born February 16, 1826, Karlsruhe, Baden [Germany]

died April 9, 1886, Karlsruhe, Germany

      poet and novelist whose immensely popular humorous epic poem Der Trompeter von Säckingen (1854; “The Trumpeter of Säckingen”) and historical novel Ekkehard (1855) appealed to sentimental popular taste and made him one of the most widely read German authors of his time.

      Scheffel's father was a Baden army engineer, and his mother was a poet. At his father's insistence Scheffel was trained in law at the universities of Munich, Heidelberg, and Berlin and began a career in the Baden civil service in 1848. He soon obtained a leave of absence to travel and study painting in Italy, and in 1853 he resigned his legal post and turned to literature. He served as librarian to Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen from 1857 to 1859. In 1865 he was given the title of privy councillor, and in 1876 he was given a patent of nobility.

      Scheffel's popularity was based on genuine talent as a fluent poet and on his romantic, nationalistic stance that rejected the strictures of contemporary realism in favour of a rosy view of Germany's ancient glories. His meticulously researched book Ekkehard, set at the 10th-century monastery of St. Gall, was one of the most popular German novels of the century. His other works include Hugideo (1884), a historical novel set in the 5th century; Frau Aventiure (1863; “Lady Adventure”), a book of verse; and Gaudeamus! (1868), a collection of student songs. Scheffel's writings eventually fell out of favour with the critics, who viewed them as cloying and trivial.

* * *