Heyse, Paul Johann Ludwig von

Born Mar. 15, 1830, in Berlin; died Apr. 2, 1914, in Munich. German writer. Doctor of philosophy (1852).

Heyse received a liberal-arts education in Berlin, Bonn (1847–51), Switzerland, and Italy (1852–53). He was one of the leaders of the Munich school, a circle of writers who championed art for art’s sake. Heyse’s lyric poetry and translations of foreign poetry enjoyed wide popularity. Without raising critical social problems, he depicted the panorama of the private life of the German bourgeoisie in the second half of the 19th century, for example, in the novel Children of the World (1873; first Russian translation, 1873) and the novellas L’Arrabiata (1858) and The Last Centaur (1871). Heyse also wrote plays.

In 1910, Heyse became the first German writer to receive a Nobel Prize.