The Banner Of The Upright Seven

The Banner of the Upright Seven is a novella by Gottfried Keller, the Swiss German author who lived from 1819 to 1890 and who is one of the central figures of nineteenth century German language literature. The story was originally published in German as Das Fähnlein der sieben Aufrechten in 1860 in the collection Züricher Novellen.

The story is set in Zurich during the years around the foundation of the modern Swiss federal state in the 1840s. The seven upright men of the title are a small group of artisans and tradesmen who have known each other for many years and who share a common commitment to Swiss republican and democratic principles. They have made themselves into a kind of informal political club and they have commissioned a banner that they carry to the major civic festivals of the period. The novella works through their lives and friendships across several decades, with attention to the political evolution of Switzerland from the cantonal disputes of the 1830s through the consolidation of the federal state in 1848.

What makes the novella one of Keller’s best works is the warm humanity of the portraits of the seven friends. He gives each of them a distinct personality, a particular trade or profession, a characteristic political temperament, and a complicated set of personal relationships with the others. The central romantic plot follows the daughter of one of the upright seven and the son of another, two young people whose marriage will eventually bring two of the friendships into family relation.

For readers interested in nineteenth century German language literature outside the great German writers, Keller is essential reading. It pairs naturally with his major novel Der grüne Heinrich and with the stories of Die Leute von Seldwyla.