Prométhée et Épiméthée

by Carl Spitteler

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Genres: Nobel Prize

Leather Bound

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring". His work includes both pessimistic and heroic poems.

Spitteler was born in Liestal. His father was an official of the government, being Federal Secretary of the Treasury from 1849–56. Young Spitteler attended the gymnasium at Basel, having among his teachers philologist Wilhelm Wackernagel and historian Jakob Burckhardt. From 1863 he studied law at the University of Zurich. In 1865–1870 he studied theology in the same institution, at Heidelberg and Basel, though when a position as pastor was offered him, he felt that he must decline it. He had begun to realize his mission as an epic poet and therefore refused to work in the field for which he had prepared himself.[1]

Later he worked in Russia as tutor, starting from August 1871, remaining there (with some periods in Finland) until 1879. Later he was elementary teacher in Bern and La Neuveville, as well as journalist for the Der Kunstwart and as editor for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 1883 Spitteler married Marie op der Hoff, previously his pupil in Neuveville.

In 1881 Spitteler published the allegoric prose poem Prometheus and Epimetheus, published under the pseudonym Carl Felix Tandem, and showing contrasts between ideals and dogmas through the two mythological figures of the titles. This 1881 edition was given an extended psychological exegesis by Carl Gustav Jung in his book Psychological Types (published in 1921). Late in life, Spitteler reworked Prometheus and Epimetheus and published it under his true name, with the new title Prometheus der Dulder (Prometheus the Sufferer, 1924).

In 1882 he published his Extramundana, a collection of poems. He gave up teaching in 1885 and devoted himself to a journalistic career in Basel. Now his works began to come in rapid succession. In 1891 there appeared Friedli, der Kalderi, a collection of short stories, in which Spitteler, as he himself says, depicted Russian realism. Literarische Gleichnisse appeared in 1892, and Balladen in 1896.

In 1900–1905 Spitteler wrote the powerful allegoric-epic poem, in iambic hexameters, Olympischer Frühling (Olympic Spring). This work, mixing fantastic, naturalistic, religions and mythological themes, deals with human concern towards the universe. His prose works include Die Mädchenfeinde (Two Little Misogynists, 1907), about his autobiographical childhood experiences, the dramatic Conrad der Leutnant (1898), in which he show influence from the previously opposed Naturalism, and the autobiographical novella Imago (1906), examining the role of unconscious in the conflict between a creative mind and the middle-class restrictions with internal monologue.

During World War I he opposed the pro-German attitude of the Swiss German-speaking majority, a position put forward in the essay "Unser Schweizer Standpunkt". In 1919 he won the Nobel Prize. Spitteler died at Lucerne in 1924.

Carl Spitteler's estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern, in the Zürich Central Library and in the Dichter- und Stadtmuseum in Liestal.

Works:

Prometheus und Epimetheus (1881)
Extramundana (1883, seven cosmic myths)
Schmetterlinge ("Butterflies", 1889)
Der Parlamentär (1889)
Literarische Gleichnisse ("Literary Parables”, 1892)
Gustav (1892)
Balladen (1896)
Conrad der Leutnant (1898)
Lachende Wahrheiten (1898, essays)
Der olympische Frühling (1900–1905, revised 1910)
Glockenlieder ("Grass and Bell Songs", 1906)
Imago (1906, novel)
Die Mädchenfeinde (Two Little Misogynists, 1907)
Meine frühesten Erlebnisse ("My Earliest Experiences", 1914, biographical)
Prometheus der Dulder ("Prometheus the Suffering”, 1924)

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Prometheus und Epimetheus" (1881) is an epic poem similar in mood, theme and style to Friedrich Nietzsche's more famous "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" (1883). The similarities are not accidental. Spitteler and Nietzsche knew each other. Both were teaching at the University of Basel in the 1870's. Both felt it was time to put an end to the reign of Christianity. Nietzsche insisted that God was Dead. Spitteler felt that God was dumb and never foresaw anything. "Prometheus und Epimetheus" will be of great interest to anyone who liked "Zarathustra". However, Spitteler is far more than a fellow traveller of Nietzsche on the atheistic road. He is a pioneer of the classical revival at the turn of the 19th century that gave us the operas of Richard Strauss, the psychology of Jung and the Olympic Games of Baron de Coubertin. Simply put Spitteler deserves a much larger audience than he currently enjoys.

Fortunately, Spitteler's artistic talents are on a level with his ambitions. "Prometheus und Epimetheus" is great fun to read. His use of characters and themes from classical mythology is dazzling. At the same he makes great use of Christian literature. In the second half of the work, he presents conversations between Béhémoth and Leviathan that remind the reader of Satan's discussion with his rebel angels in Milton's "Paradise Lost"

While the subject of "Paradise Lost" man's first disobedience, "Prometheus und Epimetheus" is about God's great error in entrusting his earthly kingdom to Epimetheus. Prometheus is initially offered the kingship but he decides that he knows better than God what his vocation is and turns the offer down. Epimetheus then accepts because he is attracted by earthly glory and riches. Inevitably Epimetheus makes a hash of it. He persecutes his brother Prometheus and fails in his most important duties. Under his care, two of God's three children (Hieros and Mythos) die leaving the Messias as the survivor. At this point, a second appeal is made to Prometheus who agrees this time to become king to because it involves not money and glory but struggle. Prometheus is able to re-establish order in the world but then departs again for the solitary life.

The final chapter recounts a final dialogue between Prometheus and his arch-enemy Doxa (public opinion). Doxa has understood nothing. She asks Prometheus what is in his soul and why did he forgive his brother who did him such great harm. Prometheus then makes the surprising revelation that his soul was dominated by the spirit of pardon. Given the consistently pagan viewpoint maintained up until this point, it is a rather jarring conclusion to learn that Prometheus was governed by such an eminently Christian virtue. Spitteler is not trying to endorse Christianity however. He is rather insisting that pagans possess the best virtues of Christians.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

This is weird. Another BURIED Nobel Winner.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suppose there's a reason this dissapeared in history after all.. Written at the time and in the style of Nietzsche's Zarathustra, one continues to hope that Spitteler will lift his readers up into similar heights, yet he never does.. His prose paints beautiful, picturesque moods, but overall it fails at being myth.

[Stefano Lusoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ritagli d'ombra su sfondo di tenebra: nulla è definito in quest'opera, vi è molto dell'arte e poco della morale. (Ammetto di aver simpatizzato per Leviathan.)

"E a queste parole il ruscello sentì tornare in cuore il ricordo delle proprie sorelle, che mormorano nel bosco ombroso, e si smarrì di pensiero in pensiero, di sogno in sogno, e cadde nell'oblio e tacque."

[Michael Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old parables.