The German poet Jean Paul, born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was born in Wunsiedel in the Fichtelgebirge mountains (Bavaria) on 21 March 1763. His father - an organist, teacher and pastor - died when Paul was 15 years old. From 1781 to 1784 Jean Paul studied theology and philosophy in Leipzig. In the following years he wrote satires in the style of Jonathan Swift and Ludwig Lisow. His first success as an author came in 1793, the novel "Die unsichtbare Loge" (the invisible lodge) intrigued the writer Karl Philipp Moritz and was published in Berlin. Until 1803 Jean Paul worked as a legation councilor, first in Meiningen, then in Coburg. In 1824 Jean Paul went blind and died in Bayreuth on 14 November, 1825.