Friedrich Norbert Theodor von Hellingrath (21 March 1888 – 14 December 1916) was a German literary scholar whose main contribution to literary scholarship is the first complete edition of the works of the poet

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...

Biography

Hellingrath was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

: his father was an army officer and his mother claimed descent from the

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

John VI Cantacuzenus John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Ángelos Palaiológos Kantakouzēnós''; la, Johannes Cantacuzenus; – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under And ...

. He studied philosophy at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. Attracted to Hölderlin’s poetry from an early age, in 1910 he provided a prefatory essay for the first publication of Hölderlin's translations of

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is ...

(published in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

, 1911).

From 1912–14 Hellingrath lived and taught in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, during which time he began work on his monumental first-ever "Complete Edition" of Hölderlin, ''Hölderlins Samtliche Werke'', collecting together not only all the poems in their variant forms, the novel '' Hyperion'', the unfinished drama '' The Death of Empedocles'', the articles and translations, but also all traceable letters and written accounts of the poet. The enterprise was planned in six volumes. Hellingrath published Volumes I and V in Munich in 1913, but after the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he volunteered for military service and was killed in action during the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

on 14 December 1916 at the age of 28.

Legacy

Volume IV appeared posthumously in Munich in 1916, and the edition was completed after the Armistice by Friedrich Seebass and Ludwig von Pigenot; the remaining volumes appeared in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

between 1922 and 1923. Though since superseded by two subsequent complete editions (the ''Stuttgarter'' and ''Frankfurter Ausgabe''), Hellingrath's pioneering work continues to have value. The Berlin Edition led to Hölderlin posthumously receiving the recognition that had always eluded him in life. Due to Norbert von Hellingrath's scholarship and advocacy, Hölderlin has been regarded since 1913 as one of the greatest poets ever to write in the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literar ...

, who Hellingrath was friends with, commemorated him in a poem, "Norbert", published in 1928.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellingrath 1888 births 1916 deaths Writers from Munich People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Military personnel of Bavaria German military personnel killed in World War I German male writers