The New International Encyclopædia/Alexis, Willibald

ALEXIS, Willibald (1797–1871). The assumed name of Wilhelm Häring, a German novelist. He was born at Breslau, June 23, 1797, and died at Arnstadt, December 16, 1871. He was in his early works an imitator of Walter Scott, from whom his first romance, Walladmor (1823), and his second, Schloss Avalon, purported to be translations. Later Alexis took Prussia for his scenes. His best novels are: Cabanis (1832), Der falsche Waldemar (1842), and Ruhe ist die erste Bürgerpflicht (1852). Here the interest is well maintained, the characters clearly seen and firmly drawn, but the novels are marred by mannerisms and over-elaboration. Through all runs a vein of patriotic feeling that still sustains their popularity. Alexis’s poems, though superficially attractive, lack depth and fertility of invention.