Boucquey Thierry (General Editor). Encyclopedia Of World Writers. 3 volumes
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McRae, Robert. Resistance and Revolution. Ottawa:
Carleton University Press, 1997.
Hayashi Fumiko (Miyata Fumiko)
(1903–1951) novelist, poet, children’s story
writer, reporter
Hayashi Fumiko was born to Hayashi Assataro¯
Miyata and Kiku in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Prefecture, in Japan. Her schooling was sporadic
until she entered Onomichi Girls High School in
Hiroshima Prefecture. However, because her
family could not pay her school fees, Hayashi
worked nights at a canvas-sail factory to pay for
her own education. After graduating, Hayashi
had a number of unsuccessful relationships with
men until she settled down with Rokutoshi
Tezuka in 1926. She was obsessive about her
writing, often sacrificing her health for her work.
She died of a heart attack.
While Hayashi was attending high school, she
contributed poems to local newspapers. Her as-
pirations to become a professional writer took
her to Tokyo, Japan’s literary center, in 1924, and
she began to publish children’s stories. However,
she achieved greater success as a poet, producing
her first collection, I Saw a Blue Horse, in 1929.
A year later, she published one of her best re-
ceived works, the fictional diary Vagabond’s Song,
which was based on her early life. During the
war, Hayashi became a war correspondent and
witnessed the fall of Nanking. The war became a
source of inspiration, and afterward she entered
her most productive period, writing numerous
short stories, essays, and novels about people
struggling against the adversity of war. Her final
novel, Drifting Clouds (1951), follows in this
vein, portraying a young woman trying to navi-
gate the changing social structure of postwar
Japan.
Hayashi gained special fame for the quantity of
literature she produced and for her ability to cap-
ture subtle emotions in her writing. Her stories
typically portray the lives of the underdogs strug-
gling in prewar and postwar Japan.
Other Works by Hayashi Fumiko
“Narcissus.” Translated by Kyoko Selden. In Noriko
Lippit and Kyoko Selden, eds., Stories by Contem-
porary Japanese Women Writers. Ardsley, N.Y.: M.
E. Sharpe, 1982.
“Tokyo.” Translated by Ivan Morris. In Donald Keene,
ed., Modern Japanese Literature. New York: Grove
Press, 1956.
Works about Hayashi Fumiko
Ericson, Joan E. Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and
Modern Japanese Women’s Literature. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
Tanaka, Yukiko, ed. To Love and to Write: Selections
by Japanese Women Writers 1913–1938. Seattle:
Seal Press, 1987.
Hayashi Ky¯oko (Miyazaki Ky¯oko)
(1930– ) novelist, essayist
Hayashi Ky¯oko was born in Nagasaki but spent her
first 14 years in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. In
1945, a few months before Japan’s defeat, Hayashi
moved to Nagasaki, where she attended high
school and worked in a munitions factory. When
the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki,
Hayashi fell victim to severe radiation sickness.
After several months, she had recovered enough
to re-enter high school, graduating in 1947. She
then studied nursing but shortly abandoned it and
moved to Tokyo. There, she met and married a
journalist in 1951 and gave birth to a son.
Hayashi began her writing career in 1962
when she was hired by the magazine Bungei Shuto
(Literary Capital). Her first story, “Ritual of
Death,” based on her experiences on August 9,
1945, appeared in the magazine in 1975. Three
years later, she published a short-story collection,
Cut Glass and Blown Glass, which depicts atomic
bomb experiences. In her next collection,
Michelle’s Lipstick (1980), the stories are narrated
by a girl in Shanghai. Developing her concerns
about the long-term effects of war, Hayashi pub-
lished her third collection, Home in Three Worlds,
in 1984.
198 Hayashi Fumiko
As a hibakusha (a survivor of the atomic bomb-
ing), Hayashi lives with fears about the effect of
radiation on her son, her health, and the human
race. Her writing usually focuses on the atomic
bombing and her experiences in Shanghai and re-
flects a personal belief that the past exists in the
present. She has won the Gunz¯o New Writer’s
Prize, the Akutagawa Award, the Kawabata Ya-
sunari Literary Award, and the Woman Writer’s
Award.
Other Works by Hayashi Ky ¯oko
“The Empty Can.” Translated by Margaret Mitsutani.
In The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic
Aftermath. Edited by Kenzabur¯o
¯
Oe. New York:
Grove Press, 1985.
“Yellow Sand.” Translated by Kyoko Iriye Selden. In
Stories by Contemporary Japanese Women Writers.
Edited by Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko
Selden. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1982.
Works about Hayashi Ky ¯oko
Bhowmik, Davinder L. “Temporal Discontinuity in
the Atomic Bomb Fiction of Hayashi Ky¯oko.” In
¯Oe and Beyond: Fiction in Contemporary Japan.
Edited by Stephen Snyder and Philip Gabriel.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
Treat, John Whittier.“Hayashi Ky ¯oko and the Gender
of Ground Zero.” In The Woman’s Hand: Gender
and Theory in Japanese Women’s Writing. Edited
by Paul Schalow and Janet Walker. Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford University Press, 1996.
Hayslip, Le Ly (1949– ) novelist
Le Ly Hayslip was born in Ky La, a village near Da
Nang, Vietnam. She was the seventh child in a
peasant farm family, grew up during the Vietnam
War, and received only a third-grade education.
When she turned 14, she was accused of sympa-
thizing with the revolutionaries by the South Viet-
namese government and of being a government
spy by the Vietcong. Originally sentenced to death
by the Vietcong revolutionaries, her life was spared
and Hayslip fled to Saigon, where she met her first
husband, Ed Munro, an American civilian working
in Vietnam. They married when she turned 21 and
escaped to the United States in 1970.
Hayslip’s first memoir, When Heaven and Earth
Changed Places, is a heartrending account of her
life beginning with her turbulent childhood and
ending with her return to Vietnam after an absence
of 16 years. The book, published in 1989 and well
received, explores the ironic balance between the
bittersweet anguish of Hayslip’s past and her re-
newed hope and forgiveness for her homeland.
Hayslip published her second memoir, Child of
War, Woman of Peace, in 1993. Her eldest son,
James, was her coauthor. The memoir relates the
author’s life after she moved to the United States.
Hayslip’s literary success lies in her ability to
blend both Eastern and Western values. Her
poignant story became the setting for the award-
winning film Heaven and Earth (1993), directed by
Oliver Stone. Stone was so moved by Hayslip’s ac-
count that he funded the building of a clinic in
Hayslip’s home village in Da Nang.
Hayslip, who now lives in California, continues
to encourage both Vietnamese and Americans to
overcome the stigma of the Vietnam War by en-
gaging in projects to build schools and medical fa-
cilities in impoverished parts of Vietnam. Her East
Meets West Foundation, formed in 1988, contin-
ues to give humanitarian relief to individuals and
groups to help them rebuild their lives.
Head, Bessie (1937–1986) novelist
Bessie Head was born in Pietermaritzburg, South
Africa. She was the illegitimate daughter of a
wealthy white Scottish woman and a South African
stablehand. Head was born in the mental institu-
tion where her mother died. She was taken from
her mother at birth and raised in a foster home in
the colored community of Cape Province. When
she turned 13, she began six years of study at St.
Monica’s Home, an Anglican missionary school for
colored girls.
Head received a teaching certificate in 1955 and
taught in an elementary school for two years. She
Head, Bessie 199
then worked for a succession of newspapers in
Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Port Elizabeth.
Though married in 1960, she soon divorced in
1964. Her involvement in the Pan Africanist Con-
gress, a political party that emerged around the
same time as the African National Congress, led to
her brief arrest and constant surveillance by the
government. She left South Africa for Botswana in
1964 and remained in exile until her death. Al-
though Head always felt a sense of nostalgia for
South Africa, she never wanted to return to her
homeland, dreading the prospect of fighting
apartheid.
Head’s writings are epitomized by tumultuous
emotions, unsettling trauma, and hope, as seen
through the optimism and resilience of her char-
acters. Her works deal with issues of alienation,
racial discrimination, poverty and interpersonal
relationships. Her ability to convey a variety of
perspectives through her characters is a testimony
to her creativity and talent. Head’s most renowned
novel is Question of Power, published in 1973. The
story revolves around an expatriate named Eliza-
beth who lives in Botswana. Elizabeth’s various
imagined encounters with a lover land her in a
mental hospital, and her hellish experiences are
metaphorical allegories of racism and gender dis-
crimination. Bessie Head’s greatest contribution to
world literature lies in her ability not only to ex-
amine the problems related to the issue of gender
discrimination in South Africa but also to offer so-
lutions to the problems.
Other Works by Bessie Head
The Collectors of Treasures. London: Heinemann,
1992.
Daymond, M. J., ed. The Cardinals: With Meditations
and Short Stories. London: Heinemann, 1996.
Maru. London: Heinemann, 1996.
Tales of Tenderness and Power. London: Heinemann,
1989.
When Rain Clouds Gather. London: Heinemann,
1996.
A Woman Alone: Autobiographical Writings. London:
Heinemann, 1991.
Works about Bessie Head
Abrahams, C., ed. The Tragic Life: Bessie Head and Lit-
erature in Southern Africa. Trenton, N.J.: Africa
World Press, 1990.
Eilersen, Gillian. Bessie Head: Thunder Behind Her
Ears: Her Life and Writing. Cape Town: David
Philip, 1995.
Garrett, James. “Writing Community: Bessie Head
and the Politics of Narrative.” Research in African
Literature 30:2 (Summer 1999).
Hébert, Anne (1916–2000) poet, novelist
Anne Hébert was born in Quebec. Her earliest in-
fluences include her father, a civil servant, and her
cousin, the poet Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau.
Though Hébert moved to Paris in the 1950s, she
made several trips back to Canada. She died of
cancer in the city of Montreal.
Hébert’s work began to receive critical attention
in the 1940s and 1950s with the publication of
her first book of poetry in 1942, Les Songes en
Equilibre; her next book of poems appeared in
1953, titled Le Tombeau des rois. Her first novel,
Kamouraska, about a 19th-century murder, ap-
peared in 1970 and was translated into English in
1974. Another of Hébert’s novels, Héloïse (1980),
concerns a vampire in Paris. Les Fous de Bassan
(1982, translated as In the Shadow of the Wind) tells
the story of a double rape and murder from mul-
tiple points of view. Hébert won the Governor
General’s Literary Award twice, for Poèmes in 1960
and for the novel Les Enfants du Sabbat (The Chil-
dren of the Sabbath) in 1975, and received many
other awards. She is one of the best-known and
most translated Québecois writers.
Another Work by Anne Hébert
Anne Hébert: Selected Poems. Translated by A.
Poulin, Jr. Brockport, N.Y.: BOA Editions,
1987.
A Work about Anne Hébert
Knight, Kelton, W. Anne Hébert: In Search of the First
Garden. New York: Peter Lang, 1998.
200 Hébert, Anne
Heine, Heinrich (1797–1856) poet
Heinrich Heine was born in Düsseldorf, Germany,
to a Jewish family. Heine’s father was a merchant
who provided prospects for other Jews in Düssel-
dorf during the French occupation. After the fail-
ure of his father’s business, Heine went to live with
his uncle Solomon in Hamburg to train for a ca-
reer in commerce. Heine disliked commerce and
decided to study law, which he did at the universi-
ties of Bonn, Berlin, and Göttingen, finally taking a
degree in 1825. To enter civil service, which was
closed to Jews at that time in Germany, Heine con-
verted to Protestantism; however, he never prac-
ticed law or held a government post of any sort.
Heine’s own writing was deeply influenced by
the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, who was a pro-
fessor at the University of Berlin. Heine was fasci-
nated with the early ideas of socialism and with the
improvement of workers’ conditions and fre-
quently corresponded with Friedrich Engels and
Karl Marx, both admirers of Heine’s work. In 1831,
he embarked for Paris as a journalist.
Heine found the bustling, artistic world of Paris
a startling contrast to the repressive atmosphere in
Germany. In Paris, Heine reported on French cul-
tural life, wrote travel books, and reviewed Ger-
man works on politics and philosophy. His affinity
for socialism and vocal criticism of German poli-
tics quickly brought him to the attention of cen-
sors. In 1835, the Federal German Diet attempted
to enforce strictly a ban on all of his works
throughout Germany. Heine was surrounded by
government spies, and his stay in Paris eventually
became a permanent exile.
Heine’s poems range from bitter political satires
to love lyrics. The Book of Songs (1827), one of the
early lyrical collections, established Heine’s success
in Germany. The collection reveals a heavy influ-
ence of traditional folk poetry but also a stylistic
shift from the lyrical traditions of the romantic
movement to a dimension of social criticism. Ger-
many: A Winter’s Tale (1844) presents a satire in
verse that attacks reactionary aspects of German
society. At the end of the long narrative poem, the
Goddess of Hamburg reveals a gloomy vision of
Germany’s future to the narrator, who is half sub-
merged in a chamber pot.
The death of Heine’s uncle in 1844 left him
with a small pension; the French government also
subsidized him. The same year, Heine was over-
come by a terrible disease that left him paralyzed
and partially blind. Heine continued to work and,
in 1851, produced one of his finest collections of
verses, Romanzero. The collection was different
from anything he had done before. In Romanzero,
Heine attempted to reconcile and combine the el-
ements of Christianity and paganism. Themati-
cally, Heine attempted to avoid the political
controversy that his previous collections caused in
Germany.
Heinrich Heine remained a controversial figure
long after his death. A proposal to erect a statue
commemorating his works caused riots in Ger-
many. The works have been closely identified with
German national identity, and he had an enormous
influence on later poets, such as Rainer Maria
RILKE.
The Nazis allowed publication of Heine’s works;
they did not reveal the identity of the author, how-
ever, because of his Jewish background. Although
Heine contributed to German romanticism, his
later works clearly show a deviation from the tra-
ditional themes and motifs of this movement.
Today, Heinrich Heine is included in the canon of
German literature as an influential poet crucial to
the development of national literature, as well as an
important social thinker.
Other Works by Heinrich Heine
The Harz Journey. Translated by Charles Leland. New
York: Marsilio Publishers, 1995.
The Romantic School and Other Essays. New York:
Continuum, 1985.
Songs of Love and Grief. Translated by Arndt Walter.
Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1995.
Works about Heinrich Heine
Hermand, Joest. Heinrich Heine’s Contested Identi-
ties: Politics, Religion, and Nationalism in Nine-
teenth Century Germany. New York: Peter Lang,
1999.
Heine, Heinrich 201
Kossoff, Philip. Valiant Heart: A Biography of Heinrich
Heine. London: Cornwall Books, 1983.
Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich
(1812–1870) philosopher, essayist
Aleksandr Herzen was born in Moscow, Russia, as
an illegitimate child of Luisa Gaag, a German im-
migrant, and Ivan Yakovlev, a retired army officer
and minor aristocrat. His father paid for Herzen to
receive an excellent education from private tutors,
and Herzen became fluent in several European
languages. He was particularly interested in the
history of the French Revolution and the poetry of
Aleksandr PUSHKIN. In 1829, he began to attend the
Moscow University in preparation for a job in civil
service.
In 1834, Herzen was implicated in an antigov-
ernment conspiracy. Placed under arrest and, after
months of interrogations, exiled to Perm, Herzen
did not return to Moscow until 1840. During his
years in exile, Herzen began his prolific career as a
writer, but most of the works written during this
period could not be published in Russia because of
their politically incendiary, liberal content. Influ-
enced by the French socialist philosophers, partic-
ularly Claude Saint-Simon (1760–1825), Herzen
often criticized the institution of serfdom and
dominant autocracy in Russian government. Un-
able to continue his work in Russia, Herzen moved
to Paris in 1847, never to return.
That year, Herzen published a novel, Who Is to
Blame? (1847), about a young liberal who becomes
disillusioned with Russia and its political institu-
tions. After his relocation abroad, Herzen aban-
doned fiction writing in favor of social and
political works. During his brief stay in France,
Herzen supported the French revolution of 1848.
After the failure of the revolution, Herzen wrote
From the Other Shore (1850), an analysis and cri-
tique of the European revolutionary movements of
the time.
In 1852 Herzen moved to London, where he
founded the Free Russian Press, which published a
series of journals. Herzen was finally able to express
freely his political opinions. Between 1857 and
1862, Herzen published a liberal journal, Kolokol
(The Bell), which was banned in Russia but smug-
gled in. For a time, the journal acquired tremen-
dous popularity and wide readership in Russia. It
may have been influential in Czar Aleksandr II’s
1860 liberation of the serfs. Herzen supported the
traditional, communal institutions of Russia, which
he considered as precursor for a free, socialist
society—contrary to the government’s agenda.
However, by the 1860s, Herzen’s views seemed con-
servative to many Russian political factions, and
The Bell’s influence waned. Herzen turned to writ-
ing his autobiography, My Past and Thoughts
(1852–55), in which he included an account of
Russia under serfdom and the attendant social-
resistance movements of the period.
British playwright Tom Stoppard has made
Herzen the subject of a trilogy, The Coast of Utopia.
In a 2002 article in the Observer, Stoppard says:
Herzen had no time for the kind of mono-the-
ory that bound history, progress and individual
autonomy to some overarching abstraction like
Marx’s material dialecticism. What he did have
time for . . . was the individual over the collec-
tive, the actual over the theoretical. What he
detested above all was the conceit that future
bliss justified present sacrifice and bloodshed.
Works by Aleksandr Herzen
From the Other Shore. Translated by Moura Budberg.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
My Past and Thoughts: The Memoirs of Alexander
Herzen. Translated by Constance Garnett. Berke-
ley: University of California Press, 1999.
Who Is to Blame? A Novel in Two Parts. Translated by
Michael R. Katz. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1984.
Works about Aleksandr Herzen
Acton, Edward. Alexander Herzen and the Role of the
Intellectual Revolutionary. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1979.
202 Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich
Partridge, Monica. Alexander Herzen. Paris: Unesco,
1984.
Hesse, Hermann (1877–1962) novelist, poet
Hermann Hesse was born in Calw, Germany, to Jo-
hannes and Marie Hesse, Pietist missionaries and
religious publishers. Hesse’s parents traveled to
India on several occasions to conduct missionary
work. The travels to India provided a profound
formative experience for young Hesse, one that
deeply influenced his writings. At first, Hesse was
educated by his parents and was expected to follow
their path. In 1891, he entered a Protestant semi-
nary at Maulbronn to prepare for life as a mission-
ary and preacher. Hesse, however, found himself
spiritually and psychologically unfit for a religious
career, and he left the seminary without taking a
degree.
Hesse became a professional writer in 1904
when he published Peter Camenzind, a novel about
a man who—like Saint Francis of Assisi—leaves a
big city to devote his life to meditation. The novel
was a great success, and Hesse was subsequently
able to dedicate his time to writing. After a visit to
India in 1911, Hesse began to study Eastern reli-
gions. Siddhartha (1922), a novel about young
Guatama Buddha who rebels against the repressive
traditions of his Brahmin father and ultimately
finds enlightenment, reflects Hesse’s interests in
Eastern philosophy. Siddhartha remains the most
widely read work of Herman Hesse.
In 1912, Hesse moved to Switzerland, where he
remained throughout World War I. He openly at-
tacked the attitudes of militarism and nationalism
that beleaguered Europe and promoted the rights
of prisoners of war. Because of Hesse’s antiwar at-
titudes, he was regarded as a traitor by many in
Germany. Demian (1919), a novel published by
Hesse under the pseudonym of Emil Sinclair, re-
flected Hesse’s personal crises during the years of
World War I. In the novel, Demian, a young man,
is torn between the world of sensuality and pleas-
ures and the orderly, restrained world of middle-
class existence. The novel also revealed Hesse’s
interest in psychoanalysis and the works of Carl
Jung, a pupil of Sigmund
FREUD. The work was well
received, particularly by veterans of World War I.
Der Steppenwolf (1927) tells a story of Harry
Haller, a man undergoing a midlife crisis, who rec-
ognizes another personality within himself called
Hermine. Hermine introduces Haller to a sensu-
ous life of drinking, sex, and drugs. The novel’s
psychological complexity and the problematic
treatment of spiritual persona appealed to many
readers. Der Steppenwolf became a seminal text for
the American Beat poets, and the famous Ameri-
can rock band Steppenwolf is named after the
novel.
During the Nazi regime, Hesse’s works were still
published in Germany and were privately de-
fended by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda
minister; however, after Hesse refused to remove
the brutal scenes of anti-Semitism and violence
against the Jews from the reprint of Narcissus and
Goldmund (1930) in 1941, he was blacklisted by
the Nazis. Hesse also assisted political refugees
during World War II. He wrote The Glass Bead
Game (1943), a novel about a futuristic, imaginary
community in which wisdom is communicated
through a series of complex games, in response to
the Nazi regime in Germany.
Hermann Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize in
literature in 1946. He wrote more than 50 poems
and essays between 1945 and 1962 for several Swiss
newspapers. His works remain popular through-
out the world. During the 1970s, Hesse was a cult
figure for many young readers because of his focus
on Eastern religions and his criticism of middle-
class attitudes and values. He influenced many
contemporary writers. He is one of the most pop-
ular writers of the German-speaking world.
Other Works by Hermann Hesse
Gertrude. Translated by Hilda Rosner. New York:
Noonday, 1998.
Poems. Translated by James Wright. New York: Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, 1970.
Soul of the Age, Selected Letters of Hermann Hesse.
New York: Noonday, 1992.
Hesse, Hermann 203
A Work about Hermann Hesse
Mileck, Joseph. Hermann Hesse: Life and Art. River-
side: University of California Press, 1981.
Higuchi Ichiy ¯o (Higuchi Natsuko)
(1872–1896) short-story writer
Higuchi Ichiy¯o was born in Tokyo to Higuchi
Noriyoshi and Taki. When Higuchi was very
young, she was sent to private school, where she
learned the Chinese classics and developed her
writing skills; in addition, her father taught her
Japanese classical poetry at home. When her fa-
ther died, however, the family fell on hard times.
They moved to the Yoshiwara pleasure district and
opened a shop that eventually failed. Higuchi died
of tuberculosis at age 24.
During her time in school, Higuchi developed a
passion for writing. In 1892, the novelist and mag-
azine publisher T¯osui Nakarai launched Higuchi’s
career by helping her publish articles in well-re-
garded literary magazines. She quickly earned the
esteem of established writers and critics. Higuchi
began to publish short stories in a variety of literary
journals; however, she produced her greatest writ-
ing after she had moved her family to the Yoshiwara
district in 1893. Her most enduring works—
“Child’s Play,” “Troubled Waters,” and “Separate
Ways” (1895)—bring to life the characters and
lifestyles of the district in the late 19th century.
Higuchi is the only woman whose works have
been consistently included among the great works
of the Meiji period (1868–1912). She is particularly
known for her short stories that depict life in the
Yoshiwara district and for her revival of the written
style of Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693).
Other Works by Higuchi Ichiy¯o
“Muddy Bay.” Translated by Hisako Tanaka. Monu-
menta Nipponica 14 (1958): 173–204.
“The Thirteenth Night” and “Child’s Play.” In In the
Shade of Spring Leaves: The Life and Writings of
Higuchi Ichiy¯o, a Woman of Letters in Meiji Japan.
Translated by Robert Lyons Danly. New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981.
Works about Higuchi Ichiy¯o
Copeland, Rebecca L. Lost Leaves: Women Writers of
Meiji Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,
2000.
Danly, Robert Lyons. In the Shade of Spring Leaves:
The Life and Writings of Higuchi Ichiyo¯, a Woman
of Letters in Meiji Japan. New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1981.
Hikmet, Nazim (1902–1963) poet,
playwright, novelist, memoirist
Nazim Hikmet was born in Salonica, Greece,
where his father was serving in the foreign service.
His mother was an artist, his grandfather a poet.
Introduced to poetry at an early age, Hikmet
published his first poems at age 17. In 1922,
attracted to the ideas of social justice promised
by the Russian Revolution, he went to Moscow.
There he met Vladimir MAYAKOVSKI, the FUTURIST
poet who became one of his greatest influences.
Hikmet’s life from this point on was fraught
with political conflict as a result of the leftist polit-
ical views that were contained in his writings. In
1924, after the Turkish War of Independence, he
returned to Istanbul but was soon arrested and
sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for working
with a “leftist” magazine. He managed to escape in
1926 by fleeing, once again, to Russia. He contin-
ued to write in exile and attempted to return home
in 1928, hoping for political amnesty. Instead, he
was immediately arrested and sentenced to six
years in prison; in 1933, he was released. During
this period, Hikmet established himself as a major
poet and playwright, publishing, among other
works, The Epic of Sheik Bedrettin (1936). It was
this poem, based on a rebellion by Turkish peas-
ants against the Ottoman Empire in the 15th cen-
tury, that led to another arrest; this time Hikmet
was sentenced to 61 years in prison.
Hikmet continued to write in prison, sending
out manuscripts secretly in letters to family and
friends. Most of his poetry was inspired by univer-
sal humanism, compassion, and a love for the
country that had exiled him. Among these works
204 Higuchi Ichiy¯o
was his epic masterpiece, Human Landscapes
(1941–45). In 1950, he was awarded the World
Peace Prize and granted his freedom. This freedom
was illusory, however: Two attempts were made on
his life as he tried to flee the country. He escaped to
Russia aboard a Romanian freighter and remained
as a political refugee until his death from a heart
attack in 1963.
Other Works by Nazim Hikmet
The Epic of Sheik Bedreddin and Other Poems. Trans-
lated by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk. New
York: Persea Books, 1977.
Poems of Nazim Hikmet. Translated by Randy Blasing
and Mutlu Konuk. New York: Persea, 1994.
A Work about Nazim Hikmet
Goksu, Saime, and Edward Timms. Romantic Com-
munist. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
Hiraoka Kimitake
See MISHIMA YUKIO.
Ho Xuan Huong (1776–1820) poet
Ho Xuan Huong was born in Quynh Doi village,
Nghe An province, Vietnam. Her father, Ho Phi
Dien, was a member of the Hanoi scholar–gentry
class. Her first husband was the prefect of the Vin
Tuong district and encouraged her to write poetry.
Ho had a good understanding of Chinese and Viet-
namese writing that allowed her to write well in
both classical Chinese and popular nom genres.
Scholars of Vietnamese literature believed that Ho
was a woman ahead of her time. With verve, Ho at-
tacked the hypocrisy of Confucian Vietnamese so-
ciety by showing her contempt for social
conventions. She was seen not only as a feminist
but also as a courageous defender of women’s
rights in early conservative Vietnam. Her simple
yet forceful language appealed to a wide audience.
Sexuality is a dominant theme in Ho’s poems.
Her casual and playful exploration of sensual
pleasures attracted and infuriated the conservative
members of Vietnamese society. Ho was simulta-
neously seen as a wanton female and a heroine
who stood steadfast to her own beliefs and values.
Her poem “Jackfruit”is a compelling tale about the
panic of an unmarried girl who discovers she is
pregnant. In “Sharing a Husband,” Ho describes
the suffering of girls who are resigned to a sub-
sidiary status in their husbands’ homes. Ho’s sub-
versive attacks on the social hierarchy ironically
won her the respect of those in power. She was re-
spected for her fearlessness in criticizing the injus-
tice of Vietnamese society, an action that few men,
even those in power, would dare to undertake. Ho
triumphed as a heroic female poet in a society that
was overwhelmingly dominated by men.
Other Works by Ho Xuan Huong
“On Being a Concubine.” In Jacquelyn Chagnon and
Don Luce, eds., Quiet Courage: Poems from Viet
Nam. Washington, D.C.: Indochina Mobile Edu-
cation Project, 1974.
“The Man-and-Woman Mountain.” In Jacquelyn
Chagnon and Don Luce, eds., Quiet Courage:
Poems from Viet Nam. Washington, D.C.: In-
dochina Mobile Education Project, 1974.
“Poking Fun at a Bronze.” In Jacquelyn Chagnon and
Don Luce, eds., Quiet Courage: Poems from Viet
Nam. Washington, D.C.: Indochina Mobile Edu-
cation Project, 1974.
Hoffmann, E. T. A. (pen name of Ernst
Theodor Hoffmann)
(1776–1822)
novelist, fairy-tale writer
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann was born in
Köningsberg, Prussia (today Kaliningrad, Russia),
to Christoph Ludwig and Lovisa Hoffmann.
Ludwig left Lovisa while Ernst was still an infant.
Responsibility for raising young Hoffmann fell on
the shoulders of his maternal uncle, Otto Wilhelm
Doerffer, a jurist. Young Hoffmann shared two
passions: music and literature. Hoffmann was
particularly influenced by the novels of Johann
Wolfgang von GOETHE and the plays of Friedrich
SCHILLER and William Shakespeare. In music, Hoff-
Hoffmann, E. T. A. 205
mann adored the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart (Hoffmann added the letter A to his first
name in honor of Mozart).
Hoffmann studied law at Köningsberg’s univer-
sity but seemingly without inspiration. On gradu-
ation, Hoffmann moved to Glogów in Silesia to
study law under the guidance of his uncle Johann
Ludwig Doerffer, an established provincial judici-
ary. Between 1798 and 1800, Hoffmann served as
an intern in the high court of Berlin. Hoffmann
was quite successful in his law career, and he was
promoted to supervise the jurisdiction of Posen in
South Prussia. In 1816, Hoffmann attained a high
position in the Supreme Court at Berlin.
Hoffmann began his artistic career as a com-
poser rather than as a writer. He worked as a mu-
sical director, composer, and theatrical critic until
1814 when he finally recognized that he would
never be a great composer. Many of Hoffmann’s
stories, however, reflect his passion for music. In
“Don Juan” (1813), for instance, a hotel guest un-
dergoes a supernatural transformation while
watching a performance of Mozart’s opera Don
Giovanni. In “Councilor Krespel” (1816), a young
girl dies when she is forced to produce the perfect
voice.
Hoffmann’s themes often deal with the magical,
grotesque, or supernatural experience. His fiction
is considered to be among early works of horror
and fantasy. Furthermore, it was difficult for Hoff-
mann to reconcile his two seemingly conflicting
roles as bureaucrat and artist, and this internal
conflict is often reflected in his works. “The
Golden Pot” (1816) presents the conflict between
the world of the artist and the mundane, spiritu-
ally destructive world of the bourgeoisie. In an-
other tale, “Das Fräulein von Scuderi” (1819),
Hoffmann depicts a respectable goldsmith who be-
comes a heartless criminal at night.
In time, Hoffmann was seen as the heart of late
German romanticism. Quite ironically, many of
Hoffmann’s literary masterpieces were trans-
formed into musical masterpieces. The best known
of these is the “Nutcracker and the Mouse King”
(1816). The famous German composer Offenbach
composed an opera based on the life and tales of
Hoffmann, The Tales of Hoffmann, which is still
widely popular.
Of his longer works, The Devil’s Elixir (1816),
the most popular, depicts the travels and ad-
ventures of an 18th-century Capuchin monk,
Brother Medardus. This strange tale combines
Gothic and grotesque elements and portrays sev-
eral shocking situations, such as rape and scan-
dalous murder–intrigues of the pope’s court. The
work was praised for its intricate plot and psycho-
logical complexity.
E. T. A. Hoffmann was perhaps one of the most
influential writers in the world. Many of the psy-
chological theories of Carl Jung and Sigmund
FREUD are based on Hoffmann’s work, specifically
Freud’s theory of the uncanny. Furthermore, Hoff-
mann was one of the most influential figures for
Russian romanticism, inspiring numerous writers
and composers to the present day. In the United
States, Hoffmann became the main inspiration for
the dark, nightmarish fiction of Edgar Allan Poe.
Despite his failure as a composer, Hoffmann’s
work as a writer inspired some of the world’s
greatest and most remembered musical master-
pieces. His work has been translated into more
than 20 languages.
Other Works by E. T. A. Hoffmann
The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr. Translated
by Anthea Bell. New York: Penguin, 1999.
The Tales of Hoffmann. Translated by R. J. Holling-
dale. New York: Penguin, 1990.
A Work about E. T. A. Hoffmann
McGlathery, James. E. T. A. Hoffmann. Boston:
Twayne, 1997.
Hofmannsthal, Hugo von (Loris, Loris
Melikow, Theophil Morren)
(1874–1929)
poet, dramatist, essayist
Hugo von Hofmannsthal was born in Vienna,
Austria, to Hugo August Peter Hofmann, the di-
rector of a large investment bank, and Anna
206 Hofmannsthal, Hugo von
Maria Josefa Fohleutner, a brewing heiress. Hof-
mannsthal studied with private tutors and at-
tended the Akademisches Gymnasium, one of
Vienna’s most prominent schools. There, he pub-
lished poetry and wrote his first play at age 16.
Hofmannsthal studied law and French at Vienna
University and earned a doctorate in romance lit-
erature in 1899. Two years later, he married Gerty
Schlesinger, the daughter of the general secretary
of the Anglo-Austrian Bank.
Hofmannsthal’s early poems and essays made
him a literary sensation in Vienna. In the early
1890s, Hofmannsthal became part of a prominent
circle of young writers known as Young Vienna.
For a short time, he had close ties with the poet
Stefan GEORGE. Hofmannsthal wrote his best
poems in the mid-1890s. His early works, such as
Der Tor und der Tod (Death and the Fool, 1893),
were characterized by Viennese aestheticism and
FIN-DE-SIÈCLE melancholy.
After the turn of the century, Hofmannsthal
abandoned aestheticism and turned from poetry
to plays and essays. The composer Richard Strauss
(1864–1949) used Hofmannsthal’s play Elektra
(1904) for the libretto, or text, of an opera. Hof-
mannsthal later wrote five more librettos for
Strauss. After World War I, Hofmannsthal’s in-
creasing anxiety over the decline of Western civi-
lization can be seen in his play Der Turm (The
Tower, 1925), in which Hofmannsthal addresses
the question of whether a decaying society can be
renewed through revolutionary violence.
Although Hofmannsthal’s later critics saw him
as an elitist defender of outdated conservative val-
ues, his works still command popular and critical
attention. German literary scholar Claude Hall
described Hofmannsthal as “a great theatrical
showman who aimed at reproducing the macro-
cosm of the world and his dreams in the micro-
cosm of the stage.”
Other Works by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
The Lyrical Poems of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Trans-
lated by Charles Wharton Stark. New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1918.
Selected Plays and Libretti. Michael Hamburger, ed.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1963.
Works about Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Coghlan, Brian. Hofmannsthal’s Festival Dramas.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
Vilain, Robert. The Poetry of Hugo von Hofmannsthal
and French Symbolism. New York: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 2000.
Hölderlin, Friedrich (1770–1843) poet,
novelist
Friedrich Hölderlin was born in Lauffen am
Neckar, Germany. His father, an administrator at a
local monastery, died when Hölderlin was two
years old. His mother, Johanna Christina Hölder-
lin, married the mayor of Nürtingen, Johann
Christoph Gok, a few years later. In childhood,
Hölderlin read intensely, including the classics
and was fluent in Greek and Latin by the age of 12.
At 14, he began to write poems. In 1788, under the
guidance of his stepfather, Hölderlin entered the
University of Tübingen to pursue studies in theol-
ogy. He graduated with a master’s degree.
During Hölderlin’s studies at the university,
his interests in theology began to fade away. He
became a close friend of Friedrich Wilhelm
Hegel (1770–1831), an important philosopher
whose theories became the foundation for revo-
lutionary thinking. Hölderlin also became in-
volved in liberalism and passionately admired
the ideals of the French Revolution. In 1793,
Hölderlin met Friedrich von
SCHILLER, one of the
most important literary figures of German RO-
MANTICISM, who agreed to publish several of
Hölderlin’s poems.
In 1793, Hölderlin began work as a private
tutor. Employed by Jacob Gontard, a wealthy
Frankfurt banker, he fell in love with Gontard’s
wife, Susette. Although the love affair was platonic,
it had a deep impact on the psyche of the young
poet. In many of his famous poems, Susette ap-
pears as the mysterious “Diotima.” Hölderlin even-
tually left Frankfurt in 1798, but the two continued
Hölderlin, Friedrich 207