PAUL JOHANN

See also:

• LUDWIG, KARL FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1816—1895)
• LUDWIG, OTTO (1813-1865)

LUDWIG

See also:

• PAUL JOHANN LUDWIG HEYSE (183o– )

HEYSE (183o– )  , German novelist, dramatist and poet, was born at Berlin on the 15th of March 183o, the son of the distinguished philologist Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse (1797-1855) . After attending the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Berlin, he went, in 1849, to Bonn University as a student of the Romance languages, and in 1852 took his doctor's degree . He had already given proof of great literary ability in the production in 185o of Der Jungbrunnen, Mdrchen eines fahrenden Schiiders and of the tragedy Francesca von Rimini, when after a year's stay in Italy, he was summoned, early in 1854, by King Maximilian II. to Munich, where he subsequently lived . Here he turned his attention to novel-writing . He published at Munich in 1855 four short stories in one-volume, one of which, at least, L'Arrabbiata, was a master-piece ,of its kind . These were the precursors of a series of similar volumes, necessarily unequal at times, but on the whole constituting such a mass of highly complex miniature fiction as seldom before had proceeded from the pen of a single writer . Heyse works in the spirit of a sculptor; he seizes upon some picturesque incident or situation, and chisels and polishes until all the effect which it is capable of producing has been extracted from it . The success of the story usually depends upon the theme, for the artist's skill is generally much the same, and the. situation usually leaves a deeper impression than the characters., Heyse is also the author of several novels on a larger scale, all of which have gained success and provoked abundant discussion . The more important are Kinder der Welt (1873), lm Paradiese (1875)—the one dealing with the religious and social, problems of its time, the other with artist-life in Munich—Der Roman der Stiftsdame (1888), and Merlin (1892), a novel directed against the modern realistic movement of which Heyse had been the leading opponent in Germany . He has also been a prolific dramatist, but his plays are deficient in theatrical qualities and are rarely seen on the stage . Among the best of them are Die Sabinerinnen (1859); Hans Lange (1866), . Kolberg (1868), Die Weisheit Salomos (1886), and Maria von: Magdala (1903) .

There are masterly

translations by him of Leopardi, Giusti, and other Italian poets (Italienische Dickler seit der Mitte des i8ten Jahrhundert) (4 vols., 1889-189o) . I-feyse's Gesammelte Werke appeared in 29 vols . (1897-z899); there is also a popular edition of his Romane (8 vols., 1902-1904) and Novellen (10 vols., 1904-1906) . See his autobiography, Jugenderinnerungen and Bekenntnisse (1901) also O . Kraus, Paid Heyses Novellen and Romane (1888) ; E . Petzct, Paul Heyse ah Dramatiker (1904), and the essays by T . Ziegler (in Studien smd Studienkopfe, 1877), and G . Brandes (in Moderne Geister, 1887) .