The Christmas Party in the Asylum

Gottfried Keller

Newcomb Livraria Press

About this ebook

A new 2023 translation of Gottfried Keller's 1862 "Day of Prayer Mandates" followed by an Afterword by the translator, a timeline of his life and works and an index of his works. Dr. Gottfried Keller's address of appreciation for Professor Dr. Hitzig at Burghölzli at a Christmas party as he was appointed director of the Burghölzli asylum. Eduard Hitzig studied at Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin and Julius-Maximilians University in Würzburg, learning from notable figures like Emil Du Bois-Reymond, Rudolf Virchow, Moritz Heinrich Romberg, and Carl Friedrich Otto Westphal. He was a member of the Nassovia Würzburg Corps (1859) and the Neoborussia Berlin Corps (1860). He earned his medical doctorate in 1862 and started his medical career as an electrotherapist in Berlin. In 1872, he became qualified in internal medicine and psychiatry through habilitation in Berlin. By 1875, Hitzig became the director of the Burghölzli mental institution and a full professor of psychiatry at the University of Zurich. In 1879, he was appointed as the director of the Neuropsychiatric Clinic and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Halle, where he opened Prussia's first independent psychiatric and nerve clinic in 1891.

About the author

One of Nietzsche's favorite living poets (the only real Swiss poet in his opinion, Keller was a major Swiss poet and writer, Keller is best known for his novel "Green Henry" (German: "Der grüne Heinrich"). His work is representative of the Realist movement, which sought to depict life and society as they were. Keller's stories often reflect the conflict between individual creative drives and the constraints of society. His novel "The People of Seldwyla" was one of Nietzsche's favorite.