Ernst von Houwald is best known as an author of Schicksalstragödien (fate tragedies) in the Romantic stage tradition of Zacharias Werner and Adolph Müllner. In contrast to his older contemporaries and consistent with the bourgeois spirit of the early nineteenth century, Houwald placed less emphasis on inexorable fate as a gruesome and horrible force. Instead, aspects of the moving and sentimental combine to lend his drama enormous stage appeal--and to win him the scorn of such critics as Ludwig Tieck and Ludwig Börne. Houwald's lifelong interest in pedagogy and his devotion to humane principles helped him to achieve distinction in a second creative field: as one of the period's most prolific and respected writers of literature for children and adolescents.

Christoph Ernst von Houwald was born on 29 November 1778 to Gottlob Karl Willibald von Houwald and Auguste von Houwald (née von...