author
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert
1715–1769
A major voice of the German Enlightenment, this poet and moral writer was once read so widely that his books were said to rank just behind the Bible in popularity. His fables, songs, and clear-eyed reflections on everyday virtue helped shape literary taste in 18th-century Germany.
3 Audiobooks
C. F. Gellerts Sämmtliche Schriften Zweyter Theil
by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert
Fabeln und Erzählungen
by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert
Die zärtlichen Schwestern
by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert
About the author
Born in Hainichen, Saxony, on July 4, 1715, Christian Fürchtegott Gellert grew up in a poor and deeply religious pastor's family. He studied theology and later philosophy at the University of Leipzig, worked for a time as a tutor, and eventually returned to Leipzig, where he became a lecturer and, in 1751, an extraordinary professor of philosophy.
Gellert became one of the most widely read German writers of his age. He was especially admired for works that joined simple style with moral purpose: fables, poems, novels, and devotional songs. His writing fit the spirit of the Enlightenment while staying accessible to ordinary readers, and his religious songs remained influential long after his death.
He died in Leipzig on December 13, 1769. Though later literary movements sometimes overshadowed him, Gellert remains an important forerunner of modern German literature and a writer whose appeal rested on clarity, sympathy, and a strong sense of everyday ethics.