Gustav Karpeles was a German Jewish historian of literature and editor; son of Elijah Karpeles.

Life

He studied at the University of Breslau, where he attended also the Jewish Theological Seminary

Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau

Das Jüdisch-Theologische Seminar , The Jewish Theological Seminary of BreslauInstitution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonas Fränckel, and opened in 1854...

. He embraced journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

, and was successively attached to the editorial staffs of Auf der Höhe, the Breslauer Nachrichten, the Breslauer Zeitung, the Deutsche Union, and Westermann's Deutsche Monatshefte. In 1870 he became coeditor with Samuel Enoch

Samuel Enoch

Samuel Enoch was a German rabbi.Samuel Enoch was born in Hamburg. He attended the Johannæum in Hamburg and the Talmudic lectures of Ḥakam Isaac Bernays, entered the University of Würzburg, and also became a pupil of Rabbi Abraham Bing. He obtained his Ph.D...

 of the Jüdische Presse. In 1883 Karpeles settled in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, where in 1890 he became editor of the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums.

Works

Karpeles stimulated into active life the Jewish literary societies in Germany, but made himself most widely known through his writings on Heinrich Heine

Heinrich Heine

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...

. In addition to several editions of Heine's works (1885, 1887, 1888, 1902) he published the following monographs:

• "Heinrich Heine und das Judenthum" (Breslau, 1868)
• "Heinrich Heine, Biographische Skizzen" (Berlin, 1869)
• "Heinrich Heine und Seine Zeitgenossen" (ib. 1887)
• "Heinrich Heine und der Rabbi von Bacharach" (Vienna, 1895)
• "Heinrich Heine's Autobiographie" (ib. 1898)
• "Heinrich Heine: aus Seinem Leben und aus Seiner Zeit" (Leipsic, 1899).

The following are among his general writings:

• "Ludwig Börne" (Leipsic, 1870)
• "Goethe in Polen" (ib. 1890)
• "Allgemeine Gesch. der Weltliteratur" (ib. 1891)
• "Literarisches Wanderbuch" (Berlin, 1898).

He also edited the works of Schiller (Leipsic, 1895), Lenau (ib. 1896), and Eichendorff (ib. 1896).

His contributions to Jewish literature include:

• "Die Frauen in der Jüdischen Literatur" (Berlin, 1870; 2d ed., ib. n. d.)
• "Geschichte der Jüdischen Literatur" (ib. 1886)
• "Die Zionsharfe" (ib. 1889)
• "Ein Blick in die Jüdische Literatur" (Prague, 1895)
• "Jewish Literature and Other Essays" (Philadelphia, 1895)-- Available at Gutenberg.org
• "A Sketch of Jewish History" (ib. 1897).
• "Jews and Judaism in the Nineteenth Century. Translated from the German" (Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1905).

Karpeles also wrote drama:

• "Deutsches Leben" and "Deutsche Liebe," comedies (1873)
• "Im Foyer" (1876)
• A dramatization of Grabbe's "Don Juan und Faust" (1877).

External links

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