A Brief Karl Hillebrand Bio
by PoetrySoup
Hillebrand (Karl), cosmopolitan writer, b. 17 Sept. 1829, at Giessen. His father, Joseph Hillebrand, succeeded Hegel as professor at Heidelberg. Involved in the revolutionary movement in Germany, Karl was imprisoned in the fortress of Rastadt, whence he escaped to France. He taught at Strasbourg and Paris, where he became secretary to Heine. On the poet’s death he removed to Bordeaux, where he became a naturalised Frenchman. He became professor of letters at Douay. During the Franco-Prussian war he was correspondent to the Times, and was taken for a Prussian spy. In 1871 he settled at Florence, where he translated the poems of Carducci. Hillebrand was a contributor to the Fortnightly Review, Nineteenth Century, Revue des deux Mondes, North American Review, etc. His best known work is on France and the French in the second half of the nineteenth century. Died at Florence, 18 Oct. 1884. [172]