Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart

Schubart, Christian Friedrich Daniel 

Born Mar. 24,1739, in Obersontheim; died Oct. 10,1791, in Stuttgart. German journalist and poet.

Schubart was the son of the village choir leader and organist. He traveled widely and held a variety of jobs. His newspaper Deutsche Chronik (1774–77) won enormous popularity; taking democratic positions, it exposed feudal customs in Germany and helped spread the ideals of the Enlightenment. At the order of the duke of Württemberg, Schubart was confined to a fortress for 10 years. Freed in response to public protest, he continued his militant journalistic activity by publishing the journals Schubarts vaterländische Chronik (1787), Vaterlandschronik (1788–89), and Die Chronik (1790–91).

Schubart’s poetry developed in the Sturm und Drang tradition. His mature verses, such as “The Masters’ Grave” (1780), “The Poor Soldier” (1783), and “Song of the Cape of Good Hope” (1787), contain elements of social criticism; they constitute one of the earliest examples of the political German lyric poem. Schubart enthusiastically welcomed the French Revolution.

WORKS

Sämtliche Gedichte, vols. 1–2. Stuttgart, 1785–86.
Werke, 3rd ed. Berlin-Weimar, 1965.
In Russian translation:
In Nemetskie demokraty XVIII v.: Shubart, Forster, Zeime. Moscow, 1956.

REFERENCES

Neustroev, V. P. “Shubart.” In his book Nemetskaia literatura epokhi Prosveshcheniia. Moscow, 1959.
Schairer, E. Chr. Fr. D. Schubart als politischer Journalist. Tübingen, 1914.
Keppler, U. Botschaft eines trunkenen Lebens. Stuttgart, 1972.

A. A. GUGNIN