-

 

Johanna Louise Spyri was a Swiss-born author of novels and best known for her children's stories and is best known for her book Heidi.

Today her works - apart from the famous Heidi story - find probably more interest among historians trying to understand society in the 19th century than among people interested in literature. Johanna Spyri took a special interest in the situation of children and young women. In 19th Europe children were regarded, treated (and disciplined!) as small, imperfect adults.

From 1871 to 1901, Johanna Spyri published 27 books and 4 booklets containing a total of 48 stories and novels. All things considered, Johanna Spyri had a rather critical view on Switzerland's society in the late 19th century.

It was quite revolutionary when Johanna Spyri took sides with the children as having their own world and their own needs differing widely from the world of adults.
Born in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.

From 1879 to 1895 Johanna Spiry wrote 16 volumes of stories for children in a series entitled Geschichten für Kinder und auch für solche, welche die Kinder lieb haben [stories for children and for those who like them]. Among these, four have found special resonance, but only the two Heidi volumes have become really popular.


The following is a list of her main books:
•    Heidi (1880)
•    Cornelli (1892)
•    Erick and Sally (1921)
•    Gritli's Children (1885)
•    Mäzli (1921)
•    Moni the Goat-Boy (1897)
•    Rico and Wiseli (1885)
•    The Story of Rico (1882)
•    Toni, the Little Woodcarver (1920)
•    Uncle Titus and His Visit to the Country (1913)
•    Veronica And Other Friends (1886)
•    What Sami Sings with the Birds (1917)

Building Your Great Collection, One Fine Book at a Time.
BlindHorseBooks.com
#JohannaSpyri #TodayInLiteraryHistory

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
 Today in Literary History: BIRTH OF G. K. CHESTERTON (1874 – 1936)   G.K. Chesterton was a fascinating figure in literary history, known for his wit, intellect, and prolific writing career a lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apologist. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox."      Time magazine has observed his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."       Chesterton's writing had a significant impact on various literary figures, including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Both Tolkien and Lewis credited Chesterton's works as influential in their own writings and philosophical development. Did You Know.....  ..... Chesterton was a large man, standing at around 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighing over 300 pounds He had a...
Read more
-
Image
 TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY: April 19 Welsh writer Richard Hughes (1900 – 1976) was born Richard Hughes was brought up in the West Indies in Jamaica and only wrote only four novels, the most famous of which is The Innocent Voyage (1929), or A High Wind in Jamaica, as Hughes renamed it soon after its initial publication.   Set in the 19th century, it explores the events which follow the accidental capture of a group of English children by pirates: the children are revealed as considerably more amoral than the pirates (it was in this novel that Hughes first described the cocktail Hangman's Blood, recipe below). During 1938, he wrote an allegorical novel In Hazard based on the true story of the S.S. Phemius that was caught in the 1932 Cuba hurricane for 4 days during its maximum intensity. He also wrote volumes of children's stories, including The Spider's Palace, plays and poetry.   A High Wind in Jamaica was made into a film of the same name in 1965. The book was initially ...
Read more
-
Image
TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY April 24 1905 Birth of Robert Penn Warren, Novelist, America’s First Poet Laureate. He is the sole individual to have earned Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and poetry. His novel All the King's Men (1946) garnered him the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, while he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in both 1958 and 1979. Warren's work spans both poetry and prose, and his ability to excel in both fields sets him apart. His poetry, characterized by its intellectual depth and emotional resonance, earned him two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry (1958, 1979). As a novelist, his most famous work, All the King's Men (1946), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947 and is considered one of the greatest American novels. The novel’s exploration of political corruption and moral ambiguity remains a key text in American literary studies. Warren was one of the founding figures of New Criticism, a dominant literary movement in the mid-20th century. This approach ...
Read more