Jeremias Gotthelf

Born Albert Bitzius in 1797 in Murten, Switzerland, he later wrote under the pen name Jeremias Gotthelf. He studied theology, became a pastor, and spent much of his working life in Lützelflüh in the canton of Bern.

Gotthelf turned the world he knew best—rural Swiss communities—into fiction. His novels and stories are known for their lively portraits of farmers, families, social tensions, and religious life, and he is often remembered for The Black Spider, a dark and unsettling novella that has remained widely read.

He died in 1854, but his work has endured as one of the strongest literary records of 19th-century Swiss village life. Readers still come to him for his mix of realism, moral force, and storytelling energy.