Zeitgeist und Berner Geist

Zeitgeist und Berner Geist, a two-volume novel by J. Gotthelf, written in 1850-1 and published in 1852. The title indicates the polemical nature of the book, which arose out of Gotthelf's concern for the old rural Switzerland and his hostility to the new Radical forces at work since 1848.

He takes two farmer families, united in friendship. Ankenbenz, solid, trustworthy, and cautious, declines to go with the times. He remains a God-fearing man, and his wife Lisi stands firm with him against the ridicule of the villagers. Hunghans, on the other hand, listens to the new political message, accepts office (as Amtsrichter), despises religion, and looks down on Benz. He neglects his farm, his wife grieves, declines, and dies; his elder son, a militia officer, cares nothing for his parents, lives high, contracts debts, and misappropriates public funds. This son meets a terrible end from apoplexy, and Hans turns from modern ways to the old friendship and support of Ankenbenz. Benz's elder daughter and Hans's younger son, it is implied, will marry and cement the alliance. The book finishes with a fully quoted sermon preached by the clergyman at the funeral of Hans's son, on the text ‘Als nun Maria kam an den Ort, da Jesus war, und sahe ihn, fiel sie zu seinen Füßen und sprach zu ihm: Herr wärest du hier gewesen, so wäre mein Bruder nicht gestorben!’ (John 11 : 32).