THEODOR

MUNDT (18o8–1861)  , German author, was born at Potsdam on the 19th of September 18o8 . Having studied philology and philosophy at Berlin, he settled in 1832 at Leipzig, as a journalist, and was subjected to a rigorous police supervision . In 1839 he married Klara Muller (1814–1873), who under the name of Luise Miihlbach became a popular novelist, and he removed in the same year to Berlin . Here his intention of entering upon an academical career was for a time thwarted by his collision with the Prussian press laws . In 1842, however, he was permitted to establish himself as privatdocent . In 1848 he was appointed professor of literature and history in Breslau, and in 185o ordinary professor and librarian in Berlin; there he died on the 3oth of November 1861 . Mundt wrote extensively on aesthetic subjects, and as a critic he had considerable influence in his time . Prominent among his works are Die Kunst der deutschen Prosa (1837); Geschichte der Literatur der Gegenwart (184o) ; Aesthetik; die Idee der Schonheit and des Kunstwerks im Lichte unserer Zeit (1845, new ed . 1868); Die Gotterwelt der alien Volker (1846, new ed . 1854) . He also wrote several historical novels; Thomas Mi nzer (1841); Mendoza, der Vater der Schelmen (1847) and Die Matadore (1850) . But perhaps Mundt's chi' f title to fame was his part in the emancipation of women, a theme which he elaborated in his Madonna, Unterhaltungen mit einer Heiligen (1835) .