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.

Biography

Hellingrath was born in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

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

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

John VI Cantacuzenus. He studied philosophy at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. 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 (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

(published in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany 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 in ...

, 1911).

From 1912 to 1914 Hellingrath lived and taught in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he volunteered for military service and was

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

during the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, 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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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 language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

. Stefan George, 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