Gustav Schwab

2025-07-20T01:24:38Z

2003:C6:3748:32B:2929:B7D1:34FC:85FE: /* Life */ "The Ride over Lake Constance"

{{short description|German teacher, pastor, author and editor (1792-1850)}}
{{for|people with a similar name|Gustav Schwalbe (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{infobox person
|name=Gustav Schwab
|image=Chr Pfann - Gustav Schwab (Litho 1850).jpg
|birth_name=Gustav Benjamin Schwab
|birth_date={{birth date|1792|6|19|df=y}}
|birth_place=[[Stuttgart]], [[Baden-Württemberg]], Germany
|death_date={{death date and age|1850|11|4|1792|6|19|df=y}}
|death_place=Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
|education=[[Gymnasium Illustre]]<br>[[University of Tübingen]]
|occupation={{flatlist|
*Writer
*pastor
*publisher
}}
}}
'''Gustav Benjamin Schwab''' (19 June 1792 – 4 November 1850) was a German writer, pastor and publisher.

==Life==
Gustav Schwab was born in [[Stuttgart]], the son of the philosopher [[Johann Christoph Schwab]]. He was introduced to the humanities early in life. After attending [[Gymnasium Illustre]],<ref>{{Cite book | last =Wojak | first =Irmtrud | title =Fritz Bauer 1903–1968: eine Biographie | publisher =C. H. Beck | year =2009 | location =Munich | pages =54 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jP0uMZLuN0wC&pg=PA54 | isbn =978-3-406-58154-0 }}</ref> he studied as a scholar of ''[[Tübinger Stift]]'' at [[University of Tübingen]], his first two years studying Philology and Philosophy, and thereafter Theology. While at university he established a literary club and became a close friend of [[Ludwig Uhland]], [[Karl August Varnhagen von Ense|Karl Varnhagen]] and [[Justinus Kerner]], with whom he published a collection of poems under the title ''Deutscher Dichterwald''.

In the spring of 1813, he made a journey to northern Germany, where he met [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]], [[Friedrich Rückert]], [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]], [[Adelbert von Chamisso]] and others. In 1818 he became a high school teacher in [[Stuttgart]], and in 1837 he started work as a pastor in [[Gomaringen]], near [[Tübingen]]. In 1841, he moved back to Stuttgart, where he was first pastor and then from 1845 educational counselor for Stuttgart's high school system. In 1847 he received an honorary Doctorate from his old university.

Schwab's collection of [[mythology|myth]]s and [[legend]]s of [[ancient history|antiquity]], ''Sagen des klassischen Altertums'', published from 1838 to 1840, was widely used at German schools and became very influential for the reception of classical antiquity in German classrooms. There is a still available English translation with a foreword by [[Werner Jaeger]].

[[File:Eislandung im Hafenbecken von Lindau während der Seegfrörne 1963.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Constance]] "Seegfrörne" of 1963 at [[Lindau]] harbour, with people, an airplane and a Volkswagen on ice]]
[[File:Seegfroerni1830.jpg|thumb|The ice procession in 1830]]
In his later years, he traveled regularly to [[Überlingen|Überlingen am Bodensee]] at [[Lake Constance]] to enjoy the waters at the city's spa.<ref>Alfons Semler, ''Überlingen: Bilder aus der Geschichte einer kleine Reichsstadt,''Singen, 1949, p. 173.</ref> The large lake seldom freezes over, an event called "Seegfrörne". The most recent times were 1695, 1788, 1830 (witnessed by Schwab), 1880 and 1963. To celebrate an old tradition, people cross the lake carrying a statue of St. John. In 1830, it was brought from [[Münsterlingen]] Switzerland to [[Hagnau]] Germany. Conditions in 1880 were unsafe, but on 12 February 1963, a procession of about 2500 people (and one rider) returned the statue to the Swiss which had given it in 1573 to their German neighbors. In the same year, a travelling rider crossed the frozen lake without recognising it as such, and only on the other side was informed about the risk he took inadvertently. In one of Schwab's most famous works, "The Ride over Lake Constance", the rider is so shocked about his lucky deed that he falls from his horse and dies.

Schwab died in Stuttgart in 1850.

==Works==
*''Gedichte'' (1828)
*''Das Buch der schönsten Geschichten und Sagen'' (1837)
*''Sagen des klassischen Altertums'' (1838–1840)
**''[[Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece]]'' ({{ISBN|9780394734026}})

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Gustav Benjamin Schwab}}
*{{Librivox author |id=665}}
*[http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/autoren/schwab.htm gutenberg.spiegel.de] {{in lang|de}}

{{Romanticism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwab, Gustav}}
[[Category:1792 births]]
[[Category:1850 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Stuttgart]]
[[Category:People from the Duchy of Württemberg]]
[[Category:19th-century German Lutheran clergy]]
[[Category:German male writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium]]
[[Category:Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände editors]]
[[Category:Mythographers]]

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Gustav Schwab