Johann David Wyss
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![]() | show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (August 2013) Click [show] for important translation instructions. |
Johann David Wyss (German: [ˈjoːhan ˈdaːfɪd ˈviːs]; May 28, 1743 – January 11, 1818) was a Swiss author, best remembered for his book The Swiss Family Robinson (Der schweizerische Robinson) (1812). He was born and died in Bern. It is said that he was inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, but wanted to write a story from which his own children would learn, as the father in the story taught important lessons to his children. The Swiss Family Robinson was first published in German in 1812 and translated into English two years later. It has since become one of the most popular books of all time. The book was edited by his son, Johann Rudolf Wyss, a scholar who wrote the Swiss national anthem. Another son, , illustrated the book.[1] Unlike his son Johann Rudolf, who died at the age of 48, Johann David Wyss lived up to the age of 74, dying in 1818.
Wyss has been described as an author whose style was "firmly Christian and moral in tone".[2]There are also many underlying tones of Christianity throughout the book and in the case of many of the characters and their morals.
Influence[]
Jules Verne declared that The Swiss Family Robinson was one of his favorite books. He liked it so much that he wrote a sequel titled The Castaways of the Flag, published in 1900, many years after Wyss' death.
Notes[]
- ^ "Johann David Von Wyss." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., 8 vols. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
- ^ Dinah Birch, Katy Hooper. "The Concise Oxford hCompanion to English Literature". Oxford University Press. p. 696.
External links[]
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Johann David Wyss |
- Works by Johann David Wyss at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Johann David Wyss at Internet Archive
- Works by Johann David Wyss at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works by Johann David Wyss at Open Library
- 1743 births
- 1818 deaths
- Swiss male novelists
- Swiss children's writers
- People from Bern
- 19th-century Swiss novelists
- Swiss Christians
- 19th-century male writers
- Wyss family
- Swiss writer stubs