Der Schweizer Literaturnobelpreisträger Carl Spitteler – ein Epigone oder Bahnbrecher der modernen Erzählkunst in der Deutschschweizer Literatur?

In the paper the author sketches a portrait of Carl Spitteler, who as the author of the epic poem “Der olympische Frühling” [Olympic Spring] became the sole Swiss Nobel laureate in literature and who with his writing inspired not only Friedrich Nietzsche but also psychoanalysis emerging at the beginning of the 20th century. In spite of the above his work was forgotten after World War II. On the basis of the analysis of the afore-mentioned epic poem as well as of Spitteler’s debut work “Prometheus and Epimetheus” and particularly of his autobiographical novel “Imago” the author of the paper attempts to show that despite the widespread opinion Spitteler did not follow the beaten literary track but his texts reveal that he can be considered a pioneer of the modern art of narration in Swiss literature. The writer in full consciousness made references to the forms and themes of the European modernist prose but was also able to look at himself and his works with tongue in cheek despite the fact that the Swiss ‘anointed’ him as the national poet and the ‘father’ of the Swiss idea of neutrality.