He was a Swiss Emile Zola and was often seen as a successor to Gotthelf: Carl Albert Loosli, the "Philosopher of Bümpliz." Born out of wedlock, Loosli spent several years in institutions in both German and French-speaking Switzerland. After restless years between Bern, Neuchâtel, and Paris, where he lived as a bohemian, he settled permanently in Bümpliz at the end of 1904. He built a life as a journalist and writer, from whose earnings his family managed to live more poorly than well.

Loosli wrote satires, novellas, and anecdotes; novels were less suited to him. With Loosli, we stand at the origins of Swiss crime literature—long before Glauser and Dürrenmatt. Loosli also proved to be a pioneer in union matters by founding the Swiss Writers' Association in 1912.

His own fate turned him into a fighter for human and civil rights. The biography analyzes Loosli's decades-long commitment against institutions and against "administrative justice," as well as his efforts for unconditional rule of law.