HEBBEL, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH (1813-1863), Ger man poet and dramatist, was born at Wesselburen in Ditmarschen, Holstein, on March 18, 1813. The only son of a poor bricklayer, he was brought up under conditions of extreme hardship, which exercised a permanent influence on his life. As his English trans lator, L. H. Allen, has justly said, he owed to his early environ ment "his sharp directness of speech, and to his peasanthood a raw facing of unvarnished things that was to stand him in good stead in his future war on faddists and dilettanti." He owed his first appearance in print, in the Hamburg Modezeitung, to Amalie Schoppe (1791-1858), a then popular journalist and author of nursery tales. Through the kindness of this lady, who interested several of her friends on his behalf, he was enabled to go to Hamburg and there prepare himself for the university. A year later he went to Heidelberg to study law, but finding this un congenial he passed on to the University of Munich, where he devoted himself to philosophy, history and literature. In 1839 Hebbel left Munich and wandered back to Hamburg on foot, where he resumed his relations with Elise Lensing, a poor seam stress, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest days in Munich. In the same year he wrote his first tragedy Judith (published 1841), a drama of poetry and passion, whose performance in Hamburg and Berlin made his name known throughout Germany. In 1840 he wrote the tragedy Genoveva, and the following year finished a comedy, Der Diamant, which he had begun at Munich. In 1842 he visited Copenhagen, where he obtained from the king of Denmark a small travelling student ship, which enabled him to spend some time in Paris and two years (1844-46) in Italy. In Paris he wrote his fine prose "tragedy of common life," Maria Magdalena (1844) . The significance of this play in the history of the drama will be realized when it is noted that it was written when Ibsen was still a lad of 16.
On his return from Italy Hebbel met at Vienna two Polish noblemen, the brothers Zerboni di Sposetti, who in their enthu siasm for his genius urged him to remain, and supplied him with the means to mingle in the best intellectual society of the Austrian capital. The unwonted life of ease had its effect. The old pre carious existence became a horror to him, he made a deliberate breach with it by marrying (in 1846) the beautiful and wealthy actress Christine Enghaus, who created the principal parts in many of his plays and thus powerfully helped his career. Much of his best work was inspired by her. In marrying Christine Hebbel sacrificed the girl who had given up all for him and who remained faithful till her death, on the ground that "a man's first duty is to the most powerful force within him, that which alone can give him happiness and be of service to the world" : in his case the poetical faculty, which would have perished "in the miserable struggle for existence." The marriage brought a measure of peace and serenity to his stormy and passionate nature. Chris tine invited Elise to Vienna, and made what amends were possible in the case. The relations of these two noble women are a great example of mutual understanding and forbearance. Shortly after Elise's death Hebbel wrote (1855) the little epic Mutter and Kind, intended to show that the relation of parent and child is the essential factor which makes the quality of happiness among all classes and under all conditions equal. Long before this Hebbel had become famous ; and in foreign capitals he was feted as the greatest of living German dramatists. He died at Vienna on Dec. 13, 1863.
Hebbel's principal tragedies are Herodes and Mariamne (185o) ; Julia (1851) ; Michel Angelo (1851) ; Agnes Bernauer Gyges and sein Ring (1856), and the magnificently conceived trilogy Die Nibelungen (1862), his last work (consisting of a pro logue, Der gehornte Siegfried, and the tragedies, Sieg f rieds Tod and Kriemhilds Rache), which won for the author the Schiller prize. Of his comedies Der Diamant (1847), Der Rubin (185o), and the tragicomedy Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien (1845), are the more important, but his genius showed itself at its height, in tragedy. All his dramatic productions, however, exhibit skill in characterization, great glow of passion, and a true feeling for dramatic situation; their poetic effect is sometimes marred by extravagances of the kind which marred much of the later Eliza bethan tragedy. Hebbel's poems, Gedichte (1842) and Neue Gedichte (1848), show a great lyrical gift. From the age of 20 o-iwards he kept a diary, and this autobiography is one of the most moving of literary documents.
The best edition of Hebbel's works is that by R. M. Werner (12 vols., 1901 seq.) ; it includes the "works," the diary and letters. There are many later editions. An English translation Three Plays by Fried rich Hebbel, by L. H. Allen, is included in the "Everyman Library." For a full bibliography see Wuetschke, Hebbel-Bibliographie (Iwo). For his life see his own diaries, published in his Works; also E. Kuh, Biographie Friedrich Hebbels (2 vols., 1877) ; R. M. Werner, Hebbel, ein Lebensbild (1904) ; A. Farinelli, Hebbel e i suoi drammi (1912) ; R. Ebhardt, Hebbel als Novellist (1916) ; E. Loose, Friedrich Hebbels Anschaunngen fiber die deutsche Literatur 1-is zum Ausgang der Klas siker (1918) ; L. Brun, Hebbel, sa personnalite et son oeuvre lyrique (1919) ; E. Federn, Friedrich Hebbel (Munich, 192o) ; A. Hallmann, Das Individualitatsproblem bei F. Hebbel (Leipzig, 1921) ; J. Bab, Das Wort F. Hebbels (Munich, 1923) ; K. Strecker, Friedrich Hebbel, sein Wille, Weg and Werk (1925).