author
Karl Arnold Kortum
1745–1824
Best remembered for a lively comic voice, this 18th-century German doctor turned everyday academic misadventures into one of his era’s best-known satirical poems. His work blends sharp humor with the perspective of someone deeply rooted in local life.
1 Audiobook
Die Jobsiade: Ein komisches Heldengedicht in drei Teilen
by Karl Arnold Kortum
About the author
Born in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1745, Karl Arnold Kortum — often listed as Carl Arnold Kortum — studied medicine and went on to work as a physician in Bochum from 1771. Although he trained as a doctor, he became especially known for his writing and poetry.
His best-known work is Die Jobsiade, a mock-heroic poem that brought him lasting literary fame. Kortum also wrote beyond comic verse, with interests that reached into local history and other learned subjects.
He spent much of his life in Bochum and died there in 1824. Today he is remembered as a figure who bridged practical work and literary wit, using humor to capture the habits and absurdities of his time.