Martti Salander: Romaani

by Gottfried Keller

"Martti Salander: Romaani" by Gottfried Keller is a family and social novel published in 1886. After seven years in Brazil, idealistic merchant Martin Salander returns to Switzerland with newfound wealth, hoping to build a prosperous life and engage in the new democracy. However, he discovers a society consumed by greed and fraud, where even his own family falls victim to deception. His faith that political freedom leads to moral responsibility faces bitter disappointment in this unflinching critique of Swiss society.