Dissertation, Stanford University, 2017

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This project outlines the educational psychology of the 19th century Swiss realist novelist Gottfried Keller and demonstrates its pertinence to contemporary research. As a realist author, Keller stands at a crossroads -- a historical, cultural, and aesthetic turning point between the Enlightenment tradition and the emergence of psychology as a field. Thus, he allows us to create a multidisciplinary understanding of human flourishing. Keller reinvents self-cultivation as a psycho-social phenomenon, prefiguring frameworks that we now use to understand happiness and well-being. These include adolescent development (Ch 1), resilience (Ch 2), attachment (Ch 3), and trauma (Ch 4).

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Keller's collection of stories, The People of Seldwyla, explore the precarity of searching for happiness in modern society, and his stories of flourishing remain attuned to contemporary concerns. Self-directed learning, finding purpose, and equality of opportunity remain at the forefront of our struggle as educators. However, instead of mourning the loss of authenticity we typically associate with modernity, Keller defends the possibility of living meaningfully in an industrialized society. This project posits story-telling and aesthetic creativity as crucial mechanisms of self-cultivation, reminding us of the unique role that literature and art play in well-being.