Born in 1797, the same year as Franz Schubert, Heine, a poet, prose writer, critic, and journalist, is a towering figure of nineteenth-century German literature, a versatile and brilliant man of letters who significantly influenced European culture. After a failed attempt to launch a career in the family business, Heine went to Göttingen, in 1820, to study law. The following year, he was in Berlin, where he attended the lectures of Hegel and participated in the brilliant intellectual life of the Prussian capital. After receiving his law degree, in 1825, Heine, who was Jewish...