December 13, 1797

Heinrich Heine (December 13, 1797 to February 17, 1856) was a renowned German writer. We have two excerpts of his writing below. First a glance at his life:

"Heinrich Heine was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, to assimilated Jewish parents. Heine’s uncle was a powerful banker who supported Heine for much of his life, only to write him out of his will. Heine attended university in Bonn, Göttingen, and Berlin, ostensibly studying law but in truth focusing his efforts and attention on poetry and literature. Because of repressive anti-Jewish laws, Heine converted to Protestantism in an effort to secure a job. His experiences of persecution at the hands of an anti-Semitic state meant that, even as Heine took part in the German Romantic movement, his poetry is widely seen as inaugurating the post-Romantic crisis, wherein art was seen as insufficient to overcome the traumas of modernity. ...

"In 1824, Heine traveled to the Harz mountains. He fictionalized the adventure in Die Harzreise (The Harz Journey)and followed it with four more Reisebilder (Pictures of Travel) (1826-31). These works, with their blend of fact and fiction, autobiography and social criticism, helped secure Heine’s literary reputation. His final collection Ideen. Das Buch Le Grand (Ideas. The Book Le Grand) (1827) was conceived as a travelogue of his journey into himself.

"After the July Revolution of 1830, Heine went to Paris, where he remained until his death. ....Heine wrote many penetrating newspaper articles about the cultural and political situation in France... He also wrote two books of social criticism aimed at Germany: Die Romantische Schule (The Romantic School) (1833-35) and Zur Geschicte der Relgion und Philosophie in Deutschland (On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany) (1834-35).....

"Heine’s last years were unhappy: by 1835, his works had been banned by the German government. His uncle died in 1844, leaving Heine destitute. And in 1848, Heine was bed-ridden with the disease that would claim his life ten years later. Before his death he returned to writing lyric poetry. The lyrics, collected in Romanzero (1851) and Gedichte 1853 und 1854 (Poems: 1853 and 1854), are considered to be the finest poems he ever wrote...."

Our quotes are amusing. The first was cited by Brian Leiter (who mentions that Freud quotes the same paragraph in his Civilization and Its Discontents):

"Mine is a most peaceable disposition. My wishes are: a humble cottage with a thatched roof, but a good bed, good food, the freshest milk and butter, flowers before my window, and a few fine trees before my door; and if God wants to make my happiness complete, he will grant me the joy of seeing some six or seven of my enemies hanging from those trees. .... One must, it is true, forgive one's enemies -- but not before they have been hanged."

And at last, from "Beware of Kittens":

"Beware my friends, of fiends and their grimaces;

Of little angels' wiles, yet more beware thee;

Just such a one to kiss her did ensnare me,

But coming I got wounds and not embraces.

Beware of black old cats with evil faces

Yet more of kittens white and soft, be wary;

....."

You can read the whole text here.