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Paul Heyse Biography

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HEYSE, Paul (1830-1914). A distinguished German author, the son of Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse, the lexicographer (q.v.), and Julie Salomon, a distant relative of Felix Mendelssohn. He was born in Berlin and was educated there and at Bonn, where he began to specialize in Romance languages and literatures under Diez. A stipend of 500 thaler enabled him to spend the year 1852-53 in study and travel in Italy. Even earlier, however, he had made his first dramatic effort on a subject which the Romantic revival had made very popular, Francesca da Rimini (1850). A little later appeared his epics, Die Brüder (Berlin, 1852) and Urica (ib., 1851), which, when they were republished in 1854, aided Geibel (q.v.) to secure Heyse's call to Munich (1854), to join the galaxy of poets at the court of King Maximilian. Here he made his home for the rest of his life, with frequent visits to Italy, whose culture influenced all his writing deeply. In later life he spent much of his time in Italy on the banks of Lake Garda. He was ennobled in 1910 and in 1911 was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. He died in April, 1914. The sum of Heyse's many and varied productions has made him a dominant figure among German men of letters. His prose fiction has been chiefly in the shape of short stories (about 165 in number), for which he came to hold a high position in German letters. These tales are models of their kind, masterpieces in miniature, cameos in which every line leaves an impression. The best collection of them is Das Buch der Freundschaft (1883); the most famous single example is L'Arrabbiata, (1853). He also produced a few longer novels, tinged with radical thought on social and religious questions, especially: Kinder der Welt (1873); Im Paradiese (1875); and Ueber allen Gipfeln (1895), pessimistic in tendency, but fresh in style and gracefully light in movement. A large number of lyric and epic poems testify to a ripe culture, a warm imagination, and a suavity of expression which at times sacrifices strength to sweetness. The best known of his longer poems is the epic Thekla (1858). In his dramas (about 60 in number) he set himself a high standard, although be has not in any of them attained the highest dramatic rank. They lack genuine dramatic action. Die Sabinerinnen (1859), Ludwig der Bayer (1862), and Hans Lange (1866) are noteworthy among his plays; his later work includes Maria von Magdala (1899), Das verschleicrte Bild zu Sais (1901), Der Heilige (1902), Ein Kanadier (1905), and Die Tochter der Semiramis (1905), the first of which had a pronounced American success in 1902. Dramatic sketches from ancient life appeared, as Mythen and Mysterien (1904). In collaboration with Kurz and Laistrer he collected and edited Der Novellenschatz des deutschen Volkes.(1871 et seq.), a large collection of the best German short stories, and Der Novellenschatz des Auslands, a similar collection of short stories in other tongues. The latest edition of his novels appeared in 12 volumes (1902-12), of his short stories in 24 volumes (1904-10). His dramatic writings are contained in 34 volumes (1864-1903). His reminiscences, Jugenderinnerungen and Bekenntnisse, appeared (vol. i) in 1901; vol. ii in 1912. Consult: Georg Brandes, Moderne Geister (Frankfort, 1887); Otto Kraus, Paul Heyses Novellen and Romane (ib., 1888); Friedrich Kummer, Deutsche Literaturgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Dresden, 1909); Erich Petzet, Paul Heyse als Lyriker (ib., 1913); A. H. Biese, Deutsche Literaturgeschichte (Munich, 1913).