Eduard Graf von Keyserling (May 15, 1855 – September 28, 1918) was a Baltic German fiction writer and dramatist and an exponent of literary Impressionism.

Biography

Keyserling was born at Schloss Tels-Paddern, Courland Governorate, within the Russian Empire, now Kalvene parish, Liepaja District in Latvia. He belonged to an ancient family of Baltic German nobility and was a cousin of the philosopher Hermann Keyserling. He died in Munich, Bavaria.

Keyserling's early novels Fräulein Rosa Herz. Eine Kleinstadtliebe (1887) and Die dritte Stiege (1892) were influenced by Naturalism. His essays on general and cultural questions, like his theater plays, are forgotten. His narrative, novellas and novels, after 1902, place Keyserling at the forefront of German literary Impressionism.

A subtle and elegant stylist, Keyserling's narrative is unforgettable for its evocative ambience and "feel". His most emblematic work is perhaps Fürstinnen (Princesses), only superficially related to the typical German 19th century Schlossroman. Somehow midway between Ivan Turgenev and Franz Kafka, there is a certain pessimistic kinship between Keyserling and Anton Chekhov.

Works

• Fräulein Rosa Herz- Eine Kleinstadtliebe (Miss Pink heart. A small town love) (1887)
• Die dritte Stiege (The third staircase) (1892)
• Die schwarze Flasche (1902)
• Beate und Mareille. Eine Schloßgeschichte (1903)
• Schwüle Tage (1904)
• Seine Liebeserfahrung (1906)
• Dumala (1908)
• Bunte Herzen (1909)
• Wellen (1911)
• Abendliche Häuser (1914)
• Im stillen Winkel (1914)
• Nicky (1914)
• Am Südhang (1914/16)
• Fürstinnen (1917)
• Gesammelte Erzählungen, ed. E. Heilborn, 4 Bde., Frankfurt a.M.1971-1973

Notes

Further reading

• Richard A. Koc, The German Gesellschaftsroman at the Turn of the Century. A Comparison of the Works of Theodor Fontane and Eduard von Keyserling; (= EHSchr 1, 542); Bern 1982
• Richard A. Weber, Color and light in the writings of Eduard von Keyserling; (= Studies in modern German literature 39); New York 1990