Fun Facts Friday: Paul Heyse

Paul Heyse (15 March 1830 – 2 April 1914) was a German writer, translator, and the 1910 Nobel Prize for Literature laureate.

Books by Paul Heyse*

Fun Facts about Paul Heyse:

Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse was born in Heiliggeiststraße, Berlin. His father, Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse, was a professor at the University of Berlin and a well-known and respected philologist (studying and authenticating texts), and a Jewish mother. Grandfather Johann Christian August Heyse, was a famous lexicographer and grammarian.
Paul Heyse was known as model student in the schools he attended.
The von Heyse family connections helped the young man enter Berlin’s literary circles. This is where he met poet and playwright Emanuel Geibel who became his mentor and friend.
Upon finishing his schooling, Paul Heyse started following his father’s footsteps and study philology.
In 1848 Paul Heyse published his first poem called Frühlingsanfang 1848. The poem was enthusiastically championed the recent revolution.
After spending two years in Bonn studying history and the romance languages, he decided to concentrate on his writing career. While working on his dissertation it was discovered he was having an affair with one of his professor’s wife and was sent back to Berlin.
That same year, 1850,his father published his first book, Der Jungbrunnen, which collected poets and stories. However the book was published an0onymously.
In later years, Paul Heyse became a professor of Romance philology in Munich.
He was married twice, his first wife, Margarete Kugler, daughter of historian Franz Kugler, died of lung illness in 1862. Five years later, Paul Heyes married Anna Schubart who was his wife for the rest of his life.
Paul Heyse was known as the Prince of Poetry (Dichterfürst) as he worked to promote international understanding in Europe. In 1910, before being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was made a member of the nobility.