Pezzl, Johann#
b. Mallersdorf (Germany), Nov. 30, 1756, d. Vienna, June 9, 1823, author and civil servant. From 1776 in Austria, 1776-1780 studied law in Salzburg, then in Zurich, from 1784 in Vienna; in charge of the library of Prince W. A. Kaunitz, associated with advocates of the Enlightenment in Vienna, friendship with A. Blumauer. From 1785 member of the Masonic lodge "Zum Palmbaum", from 1791 civil servant (Cryptography Service). Important representative of the Enlightenment in Vienna; it was mainly through his journalistic and epic works, his "Sketch of Vienna" (6 booklets, 1786-1790) and similar works that he became an important Viennese topographer and writer on the customs and morals of his time and contributed to the development of Austrian national identity. Later politically more moderate, which weakened the impact of his writing.
Further works#
Briefe aus dem Noviziat, 4 vols., 1780-1783; Faustin oder Das philosoph. Jh., 1783; Vertraute Briefe ueber Katholiken und Protestanten, 1787; Abdul Erzerum´s neue persoenl. Briefe, 1787; Denkmal auf M. Stoll, 1788; Oe. Biographien, 4 parts., 1790-1792; Ulrich von Unkenbach und seine Steckenpferde, 2 vols., 1800/1802. - Travelogues and topographical works.Literature#
W. M. Bauer, Fiktion und Polemik, 1978; L. Bodi, Tauwetter in Wien. Zur Prosa der oesterreichischen Aufklaerung 1781-1795, 21995.