Wilhelm Raabe
pseudonym Jakob Corvinus
born Sept. 8, 1831, Eschershausen,
near Hildesheim, Braunschweig
died Nov. 15, 1910, Braunschweig, Ger.
German writer best known for
realistic novels of middle-class life.
After leaving school in Wolfenbüttel
in 1849, Raabe was apprenticed for four
years to a Magdeburg book dealer, during
which time he read widely. Although he
attended lectures at Berlin University,
the important product of his time in
Berlin was his popular first novel,
published under his pseudonym, Die
Chronik der Sperlingsgasse (1857; “The
Chronicle of Sperling Street”), which
depicts episodes in the lives lived out
on one small street. In 1856 Raabe
returned to Wolfenbüttel, determined to
make a living as a writer. He published
a number of novels and story
collections, none of which attracted
much attention, and then set out to
travel through Austria and Germany.
In 1862 he married and settled in
Stuttgart, where he lived until 1870.
During the Stuttgart years he wrote his
then most successful novels, Der
Hungerpastor, 3 vol. (1864; The
Hunger-Pastor), Abu Telfan, oder Die
Heimkehr vom Mondgebirge, 3 vol. (1868;
Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of
the Moon), and Der Schüdderump, 3 vol.
(1870; “The Rickety Cart”). These three
novels are often viewed as a trilogy
that is central to Raabe’s generally
pessimistic outlook, which views the
difficulties of the individual in a
world over which he has little control.
Discouraged by a lack of public acclaim
in Stuttgart, Raabe returned to
Braunschweig, where he spent the last 40
years of his life. He specialized in
short stories and involved shorter
novels, which are now considered his
most original, revealing a mature
acceptance of compromise between the old
order and the bewildering changes
brought about by industrialization and
urbanization. They are less pessimistic
than his earlier books. Notable among
them is Stopfkuchen (1891; “Stuffing
Cake”; Eng. trans. Tubby Schaumann).
