PETER HILLÉL. — Poet, born in Westphalia, near Höxter, on 11 Sept. 1854, died 7 May 1904 at Berlin-Lichterfelde. One of the most outstanding and original poetic temperaments of late 19th-century Germany, his life—half bohemian, half gypsy—was so unreal as to obscure or distort his true nature. His refined sensibility produced lyrics containing some of the most delicate and subtle verses of the period, representing the most vital part of his output.
In the novel Die Sozialisten (1887), a sharp and sceptical critique of socialism is to be found. His true novel is Die Hassenburg (1905), in which he also discusses problems of nobility and education. Of the two short historical novels Seminari and Kleopatra (published together in 1896), the latter is noteworthy; even more so is Des Platonikers Sohn or “tragedy of education” (same year), though here the focus is chiefly on social issues, which remained closed to him. There is also an aphoristic H., popular but weak. His friends later collected his posthumous works.