Heinrich and Julius Hart

Heinrich born Dec. 30, 1855, in Wesel and died June 11, 1906, in Tecklenburg. Julius born Apr. 9, 1859, in Münster and died July 7, 1930, in Berlin. German writers and critics; among the founders and theoreticians of German naturalism.

The Hart brothers published journals and almanacs of literary criticism, notably Kritische Waffengänge (parts 1–6, 1882–84), in which they opposed the light reading preferred by the bourgeoisie and supported literature based on reality.

However, in their own works the Hart brothers were not always true to their own principles. Julius Hart is known best for his lyric poetry, notably the anthologies Sansara (1879) and The Triumph of Life (1898) and for his short stories, which dwell on moral and psychological conflicts, for example, the collection Longing (1893). Heinrich Hart in his chief work, the epic Song of Humanity, attempted to depict the panorama of man’s development from ancient times. However, he finished only three “songs”— Tul and Nahila (1888), Nimrod (1888), and Moses (1896), in which lyric and rhetorical elements predominate.