This Swiss German-language poet and novelist, born in Zurich, is known for his widely read realistic short stories of Swiss provincial life.The Saturday Review wrote of his autobiographical Green Henry (1854-55), "The book's instantly captivating quality is the charm with which a quietly sequential life of curiosity and perception is narrated in the pellucid recollection of the mature poet. Keller's eye for the colorful scene and his skill in endowing the concrete particular with something like archetypal significance make him an artist of rare integrity." His best work, A Village Romeo and Juliet (1876), "tells of the tragic fate of two youthful lovers who are prevented from making an… honest marriage by the sins of their fathers" (Ernst Rose).