Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse

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Portrait of Paul Heyse, by Adolph von Menzel

Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse (March 15, 1830 - April 2, 1914) was a distinguished German author. Paul von Heyse was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse, a notable philologist, and Julie Saaling. Saaling, his mother, was the daughter of a prominent Jewish family, a well-to-do court jeweler related to Felix Mendelssohn. He was educated in Berlin and at Bonn, where he studied classical languages. Afterwards, he translated many Italian poets. He also wrote short stories and published several novels, the most famous being Kinder der Welt ("Children of the World", 1873). In Berlin he was member of the poets' society "Tunnel über der Spree", in Munich together with Emanuel Geibel and others in the poets' society "Krokodil" (Crocodile).

He wrote books, poems, and about 60 dramas. The sum of Heyse's many and varied productions has made him a dominant figure among German men of letters. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1910 "as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories".