Jakob Ruf

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 1505
Died 20 Feb 1558
Activity c. 1530-c. 1558

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Switzerland

Activities

Primary

Physician/ Doctor

Other

Writer / Author

Resources

Ruf's Works

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Sixteenth-century Zürich medical doctor, author of medical tracts, and poet Jakob Ruf is a little-known figure in contemporary cultural memory -- he does not even figure in the otherwise comprehensive and inclusive

Schweizer Lexikon

(vol. 6. Zürich 1948; for a very brief biographical skeleton, see https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/014609/2010-11-18/). And yet, not too long ago, a complete critical edition of all his works appeared in print in 2008. It still remains to be seen whether and how literary scholars will respond to this new publication of a major Swiss author of Reformation plays and other texts. New research on Ruf promises to shed significant light on the cultural scene in Reformation Zürich and Switzerland at large and on the history of early modern plays in German. This…

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1840 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Jakob Ruf". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 April 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15409, accessed 28 April 2025.]