Karl Hillebrand (17 September 1829 - 19 October 1884) was a German author.

Biography

He was born at

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

, the son of

Joseph Hillebrand Joseph Hillebrand (24 August 1788 in Großdüngen (near Hildesheim) – 25 January 1871 in Bad Soden am Taunus) was a German novelist, philosopher and historian of literature. Biography He was originally a Catholic, studied at Hildesheim and a ...

, a literary

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and writer on philosophy. Karl Hillebrand became involved, as a student in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, in the Baden revolutionary movement, and was imprisoned in

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was a ...

in 1849. He succeeded in escaping and lived for a time in Strassburg, Paris — where for several months he was

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

's secretary — and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. He continued his studies, and after obtaining the doctor's degree at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, he was appointed teacher of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

in the Ecole militaire at St Cyr, and shortly afterwards, professor of foreign literatures at Douai. On the outbreak of the Franco-German War, he resigned his professorship and acted for a time as correspondent to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' in Italy. He then settled in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, where he died on 19 October 1884.

Writings

Hillebrand wrote with facility and elegance in French, English and Italian, besides his own language. His essays, collected under the title ''Zeiten, Völker and Menschen'' (Berlin, 1874-1885), show clear discernment, a finely balanced cosmopolitan judgment and grace of style. He undertook to write the ''Geschichte Frankreichs von der Thronbesteigung Ludwig Philipps bis zum Fall Napoleons III'', but only two volumes were completed (to 1848) (2nd ed., 1881-1882). In French he published ''Des conditions de la bonne comedie'' (1863), ''La Prusse contemporaine'' (1867), ''Etudes italiennes'' (1868), and a translation of O. Müller's ''Griechische Literaturgeschichte'' (3rd ed., 1883). In English, he published ''Public Instruction in the United States'' (1869) and his Royal Institution Lectures on ''German Thought during the Last Two Hundred Years'' (1880). He also edited a collection of essays dealing with Italy, under the title ''Italia'' (4 vols, Leipzig, 1874-1877).

Notes

References

* This work also cites Homberger. * This work also cites Homberger. *Anna Maria Voci: ''Karl Hillebrand. Ein deutscher Weltbürger''. Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici, Roma 1. 2015, ;Attribution * This work in turn cites: ** H. Homberger, ''Karl Hillebrand'' (Berlin, 1884) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillebrand, Karl 1829 births 1884 deaths German revolutionaries Heidelberg University alumni University of Paris alumni People of the Revolutions of 1848 German male writers