Heinrich Doring, born Michael Johann Heinrich Döring (8 May, 1789, Danzig/Gdansk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

 – 14 December, 1862, Jena

Jena

Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

) was a German writer, theologian and mineralogist.

He became known mainly as a biographer of the German classical writers, and especially the first biographer of Goethe.

Life

In 1814, after an interrupted business apprenticeship, Döring enrolled in the University of Jena. He studied theology and philosophy, and soon became active as a writer, falling under the influence of Goethe.

He became a member of the 'Society for General Mineralogy' (Gesellschaft für die gesamte Mineralogie) in Jena.

In 1817, he worked as an editor for the Oppositionsblatt newspaper in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

. After that, he worked primarily as a translator from English of such authors as James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...

, William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

, Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

, and Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...

. He was also a literary historian, and biographer of various German writers.

His biographies were mainly based on the first-hand accounts by the persons he was writing about, as well as on other mostly reliable evidence.

As author

• Friedrich von Schillers Leben [The Life of Friedrich von Schiller]. (Galerie Weimarischer Schriftsteller; Bd. 1). Gebrüder Hoffmann, Weimar 1822.
• Johann Gottfried von Herder's Leben [The Life of Johann Gottfried von Herder]. (Herder, Sämtliche Werke. Supplement-Band). Hoffmann, Weimar 1823.
• Goethes Leben [The Life of Goethe], (Weimar, 1828)

As translator

• Supplemente zu allen Ausgaben Shakespeare's sämmtlicher Schauspiele [Translation of Shakespeare's plays], Übersetzt von Dr. Heinrich Döring, 2 Bnde, Hennings und Hopf, Erfurt 1840.