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Swiss writer and academic (1890–1974) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theophil Spoerri (10 June 1890, in La Chaux-de-Fonds – 24 December 1974, in Caux), was a Swiss writer and academic.[1]
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Theophil Spoerri | |
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| Born | 10 June 1890 La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland |
| Died | 24 December 1974 (aged 84) Caux, Vaud, Switzerland |
| Occupation | Writer and academic |
Theophil Spoerri was the son of a Methodist Preacher called Jakob Gottlieb Spoerri and of his wife Maria Eugenie Thiele/Spoerri.
He had a cousin, also named Theophil Spörri (1887 – 1955) who was a prominent Swiss Methodist theologian and with whom he is sometimes confused.
He had a nephew, from his mother's side of the family, called Daniel Isaac Feinstein. When the boy was 11 his father was arrested and killed. Daniel was then adopted by his uncle Theophil Spoerri and changed his name to Daniel Spoerri. Daniel Spoerri subsequently gained prominence as an artist.
Spoerri studied at Zürich, Siena and Paris. He obtained his doctorate at Bern in 1916. His dissertation was published in Milan in 1918 under the Italian-language title “Il dialetto della Valsesia” (”The dialect of Valsesia”). Between 1912 and 1922 he worked as a high school teacher in Bern.
Between 1922 and 1956 he was an Associate Professor of Romance Philology at the University of Zurich where his students included the future novelist Max Frisch. In respect of university administration he was made Dean in 1932, and university Rector between 1948 and 1950. Between 1942 and 1951, together with his colleague Professor Emil Staiger, he produced a quarterly publication entitled “Trivium. Schweizerische Vierteljahresschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Stilkritik” (”Trivium: Swiss quarterly journal for literary knowledge and criticism“)
Spoerri held an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva (1950). He published several essays on Dante Alighieri, and was a holder of the Golden Dante-Medal (Florence 1962).
Spoerri's religious upbringing gave him a powerful religious, social and political commitment. In 1940 he joined with others to form an anti-Nazi organisation called the Gotthard League, becoming its first president. He was also a member of the Neue Helvetische Gesellschaft (New Helvetic Society) and of the Oxford Group along with the Moral Re-Armament movement that grew out of it.
The strong religious element in his make-up was also apparent in his academic research work which covered writers such as Blaise Pascal, Jean Racine, Dante Alighieri, Ludovico Ariosto und Torquato Tasso.
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