Dictionary.net

An Austrian poet and novelist; born at Alpl, a small village in the Styrian Alps, July 31, 1843. His youth was one of great poverty, and at 17 he was apprenticed to a tailor; but the exceptional merit of his poetry secured him patronage which enabled him to devote himself exclusively to literature. His first book, "Zither and Cymbals" (1869), a collection of poems in the Styrian dialect, met with immediate success. The best known of his other works, which include stories, sketches, and novels, concerning the peasant life about him, are: "Tales of the Alps" (1873); "Out of the Woods" (1874); "The Seeker after God" (1883); "The Last Jacol" (1888); "Hoch vom Dachstein" (1892); and "Peter Mayr"; "The Eternal Light"; "Sunshine", etc.