Bogumil Goltz was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 humorist and satirist

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 known mostly for his work Buch der Kindheit ("Book of Childhood").

Biography

He was born in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. After attending the classical

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 schools of Marienwerder and Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

, he learned farming on an estate near Thorn

Torun

Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....

, and in 1821 entered the University of Breslau as a student of philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

. But he soon abandoned an academic career and, after returning for a while to country life, retired to the small town of Gollub

Golub-Dobrzyn

Golub-Dobrzyń is a town in central Poland, located on the both sides of the Drwęca River. Situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , it was previously in the Torun Voivodeship...

, where he devoted himself to literary studies. In 1847 he settled at Thorn, the home of Copernicus, where he died.

Writings

Goltz is best known to literary fame by his Buch der Kindheit ("Book of Childhood", Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, 1847; 4th ed., Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, 1877), in which, after the style of Jean Paul

Jean Paul

Jean Paul , born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.-Life and work:...

 and Adalbert Stifter

Adalbert Stifter

Adalbert Stifter was an Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was especially notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing, and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, while almost entirely unknown to English readers.-Life:Born in Oberplan in Bohemia , he...

, but with a more modern realism, he gives a charming and idyllic description of the impressions of his own childhood. Among his other works must be noted Ein Jugendleben (1852); Der Mensch und die Leute (1858); Zur Charakteristik und Naturgeschichte der Frauen (1859); Zur Geschichte und Charakteristik des deutschen Genius (1864), and Die Weltklugheit und die Lebensweisheit (1869).

Goltz's works have not been collected, but a selection will be found
in Reclam

Reclam

thumb|A 1902 catalogReclam Verlag or just Reclam is a German publishing house, established in Leipzig in 1828 by Anton Philipp Reclam. It is known for its "little yellow books", in particular those of its "universal library" ....

's Universalbibliothek (edited by P. Stein, 1901 and 1906).