Levin Schücking

Levin Schücking (full name: Christoph Bernhard Levin Matthias Schücking; September 6, 1814 – August 31, 1883) was a German novelist. He was born near Meppen, Kingdom of Prussia, and died in Bad Pyrmont, German Empire. He was the uncle of Levin Ludwig Schücking.

Born into the Westphalian nobility on the estate of Klemenswerth, near Meppen, his mother, Sibilla Katharina née Busch (1791–1831) was a poet who occasionally published, whilst his father was Paulus Modestus Schücking. Levin's mother became friend of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, who wrote her son a letter of introduction when he left home for the gymnasium in Münster. Shortly after he left home, his mother died, and Droste-Hülshoff did her best to fill this gap in his life.

After studying law at Munich, Heidelberg and Göttingen, Schücking wished to enter the government judicial service, but, confronted by serious difficulties, abandoned the legal career, and settling at Münster in 1837, devoted himself to literary work. In 1841 he removed to Schloss Meersburg on the Lake of Constance.

In 1843, Schücking married Luise von Gall. Up to this time, Droste-Hülshoff had been a major inspiration in his life, but she and his wife did not get along. Droste-Hülshoff felt he neglected her and that his head was too turned by the revolutionary "young Germany". And then Schücking published a novel on the Westphalian nobility, which did not depict them favorably, and Droste-Hülshoff's friends, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, traced many of the depictions back to Droste-Hülshoff. This annoyance led to her avoiding Schücking for the rest of her life.

...
Wikipedia