The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Keller, Gottfried
(gôt´frt) (KEY) , 181990, Swiss novelist, poet, and short-story writer. His vital, realistic, and purposeful fiction gives him a high place among 19th-century authors. Chief among his works is the educational novel, Der grüne Heinrich (185455; tr. Green Henry, 1960), which he later revised. It is considered one of the outstanding works of the 19th cent. A number of short stories are included in People of Seldwyla (185674; tr. 1929); among them is the highly regarded tale which was the basis of Deliuss opera A Village Romeo and Juliet.