The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff, Nataly von

KNOBELSDORFF-BRENKENHOFF, knō'bĕls-dôrf-brĕnk'ĕn-hōf, Nataly von, German novelist: b. Hofgeismar, 17 May 1860. She wrote under her maiden name, Nataly von Eschstruth. She was daughter of a Hessian officer and was educated in Berlin; married Capt. Franz Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff (1880), and after her travels lived at Schwerin. She started early writing short stories and plays; of the latter ‘Karl Augusts Brautfahrt,’ ‘Die Sturmnixe,’ were placed on the stage. Her rapidly sketched novels and stories soon gained popularity and some reached several editions. She wrote ‘Wolfsburg’ (Jena 1884); ‘Gänsebiesel’ (Berlin 1886); ‘Katz und Maus’ (ib. 1886); ‘Pot-pourri’ (1886); ‘Humoresken’ (1887); ‘Palnisch Blut’ (1887, 2 vols.); ‘Die Erlkönigin’ (1887); ‘Hazard’ (1888, 2 vols.); ‘Hoflust’ (1889; 9th ed., 1899); ‘Sternschuppen’ (1890); ‘Im Schellenhemd’ (1894, 2 vols.). Other two-volume works were ‘Von Gottes Gnaden’ (1894); ‘Der Stern des Glucks’ (1897); ‘Der Majoratskerr’ (1898); ‘Der verlorene Sohn’ (1902); ‘Die Bären von Hohen-Esp’ (1902; 8th ed., 1904). She brought out a volume of her poems under the title ‘Wegekraut’ (Dresden 1887), and a collection of her works has been published serially since 1899 in Leipzig.