Gustav Freytag: The Voice of the Middle Class in Victorian Germany Gustav Freytag (Kreuzburg, 1816 – Wiesbaden, 1895) stands as a pivotal figure in German literature of the mid-nineteenth century, celebrated primarily for his realistic novels that meticulously portray the aspirations and anxieties of the burgeoning middle class. Born in Kreuzburg, now Kluczbork, Poland, Freytag’s formative years were steeped in intellectual ferment—he pursued philology at Breslau University and Berlin, becoming a member of the Corps Borussia Breslau in 1835, an institution deeply rooted in Prussian tradition…