HAUFF, WILHELM

born Nov. 29, 1802, Stuttgart, Wrttemberg died Nov. 18, 1827, Stuttgart German poet and novelist best known for his fairy tales. Hauff was educated at the University of Tbingen, worked as a tutor, and in 1827 became editor of J.F. Cotta's newspaper Morgenblatt. Although he died before he was 25, his collected works comprise 36 volumes. Hauff had a narrative and inventive gift and sense of form; he wrote with ease, combining narrative themes of others with his own. His work shows a pleasant, often spirited, wit. There is a strong influence of E.T.A. Hoffmann in his fantasy Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satans (182627; Pronouncements from the Memoirs of Satan). His short story Die Bettlerin vom Pont des Arts (1827; The Beggar Woman from Pont des Arts) has affinities with Ludwig Tieck, the author of Puss in Boots and Bluebeard. Lichtenstein (1826), a historical novel of 16th-century Wrttemberg, was one of the first imitations of Sir Walter Scott. Some of Hauff's fairy tales published in his Mrchenalmanach auf das Jahr 1826 (followed by similar volumes in 1827 and 1828) had lasting popularity.