Paul Heyse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1910 "as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories." Wirsen, one of the Nobel judges, said that "Germany has not had a greater literary genius since Goethe."

This selection chosen by the critic August Nemocontains the following stories:

- The Dead Lake

- Doomed

- Beatrice

- Beginning, and End

- L'Arrabiata!

- Count Ernest's Home

- Blind