Reuter, Fritz

Reuter, Fritz (Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich Reuter), 1810–74, German writer. His tales of Mecklenburg life are among the best of German provincial literature. Reuter's political views brought him a death sentence (1833), later commuted to 30 years' imprisonment. Released in the Prussian amnesty of 1840, he led a wretched life until, in the 1850s, he won recognition with novels, tales, and verse in Low German dialect, or Plattdeutsch. His works, characterized by compassion for the poor and acute understanding of provincial people, include Ut de Franzosentid (1860; tr. In the Year '13, 1867), Ut mine Stromtid (1862–64; tr. Seedtime and Harvest, 1871), and Ut Mine Festungstid [from my prison days] (1863).