The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Eckstein, Ernst

ECKSTEIN, ĕk-stīn Ernst, German humorist, poet and novelist: b. Giessen, 6 Feb. 1845; d. 1900. From the university he went to Paris, and there completed his comic epos, &lsquo;Check to the Queen&rsquo; (1870), and wrote &lsquo;Paris Silhouettes&rsquo; (1873), the grotesque night-piece &lsquo;The Varzin Ghosts&rsquo; and the &lsquo;Mute of Seville.&rsquo; Later he wrote the stories &lsquo;Margherita&rsquo;; &lsquo;At the Tomb of Cestius&rsquo;; &lsquo;The Mosque at Cordova.&rsquo; He was editor of a literary and critical journal, Hall of Poets, and of a humorous weekly, The Wag, at Leipzig, for some years, and in 1885 settled in Dresden. He also wrote &lsquo;The Claudii&rsquo;; &lsquo;Aphrodite, a Story of Ancient Hellas&rsquo;; &lsquo;Decius the Flute-player: a Merry Story of a Musician in Ancient Rome.&rsquo; He is distinguished by a polished literary style and careful handling of plots.