GERMAN LITERATURE

Literature written in the GERMAN LANGUAGE, (q.v.) from the 8th century to the present, and including the works of German, Austrian, and Swiss authors. It may be divided into periods corresponding generally to successive phases in the development of the German language and to the growth and unification of Germany as a nation. See also AUSTRIAN LITERATURE,; SWITZERLAND: Literature.

Old High German Period

(800–1100). The oldest known literary work in German is the epic Hildebrandslied (Lay of Hildebrand), which survives in a fragment dating from about ad 800. This work describes, in mixed Low and High German alliterative verse, the confrontation and the beginning of a battle between the legendary hero Hildebrand and his son. Other legends deal with such heroic personalities as Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths; Attila, king of the Huns; and Siegfried, identified by some authorities as the German chief Arminius, who defeated the Romans in the Teutoburger Wald, a forest in Lower Saxony in ad 9.

This pagan tradition was disowned by the Roman Catholic church, which remained the dominant force in German literature from the 4th to the 12th century. As early as 381 Ulfilas, bishop of the Goths, translated the Bible into the vernacular, and an anonymous priest wrote Muspilli (900; trans. 1885), an alliterative poem in Bavarian dialect depicting the destruction of the world by fire on Judgment Day. Another important work, written in the old Low German dialect, is the epic Heliand (9th cent.; trans. 1830), in which Christ is represented as a German prince with feudal retainers as his disciples.

Under the Frankish ruler Charles Martel and his successors, many abbeys were founded, among them the famous Sankt Gallen (now in Switzerland) and Fulda in Germany. In these abbeys the monks preserved ancient literature as well as the history of their own time. During this period, however, the major literary works were written in Latin, with German being used primarily in translations from the older language. An example of an epic written in Latin is the Walthariusleid (c. 930; Lay of Walter, 1858) by Ekkehard I the Elder (c. 910–73) of Sankt Gallen, which tells of the escape of the hero Walter and his bride from the court of Attila. In addition to such epics, written for the royal courts, a popular oral literature developed during the 9th and 10th centuries. It consisted largely of tales and ballads, which were not written down until about the 14th century.

Middle High German Period

(1100–1370). Although prose writing and drama were found primarily in the form of didactic religious works throughout the Middle High German period, poetry developed as a mode of secular expression, and epic, lyric, and satiric forms appeared, giving voice to the virtues of chivalry and courtly love. The Spielleute, or wandering minstrels, entertained their listeners with stories of adventure sometimes based on the experiences of warriors returning from the Crusades. Among the epic poems of the period, König Rother (King Rother, c. 1150) had the greatest success. Another important style was the court epic, which reached its highest form in the works of Hartmann von Aue (c. 1170–c. 1235), Gottfried von Strassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and Heinrich von Veldeke (fl. about 1160–1200). Although the works of such French writers as Chrétien de Troyes and others served as models for the German epics, the German writers expressed their own ideals, found their own form and style, and very often added depth to the stories. A variation of the court epic was the epic in which an animal was the central figure. Reinecke Fuchs (c. 1180; Reynard the Fox, 1840) by Heinrich der Glîchezaere (fl. 1170–89) is the best example. The greatest of the German epics is the NIBELUNGENLIED, (q.v.), set down in the early 13th century by an unknown author.

Lyric poetry during the Middle High German period developed in the form of the Minnesang, or courtly lyric, composed by the lyric poets known as MINNESINGER (q.v.). The great master of this type of poetry is Walther von der Vogelweide. His works, which include love songs, religious lyrics, and epigrams, express personal and political idealism and assert his independence of papal authority.

In the second half of the 13th century the nature of the epic began to change as characters from the middle class and the peasantry were introduced. The peasantry, once an object of derision, became increasingly important in literature, figuring prominently in such works as Meier Helmbrecht, a 13th-century tale of peasant life.

The Reformation

(1500–1700). The rise of the middle class in the 14th and 15th centuries and the struggles of the peasants against the nobility culminated in the great 16th-century religious revolution known as the Reformation. This movement was reflected in literature, especially by Martin Luther, whose translation of the Bible established New High German as the literary language of Germany. In secular literature the aristocratic Minnesang was discarded in favor of the Meistergesang (“master song”), written by guilds of artisans known as MEISTERSINGER (q.v.). Also popular were the simple lyric poems later collectively titled Volkslied (“folk songs”; see FOLK MUSIC,). The Schwank, a farcical form of comic anecdote, gave popular expression to the stories of such sly rogues as Till Eulenspiegel. In the famous Das Narrenschiff (1494; The Ship of Fools, 1509) the humanist poet Sebastian Brant satirized more than 100 contemporary forms of foolishness and immorality. Another successful author was Johann Fischart (1546–90), a satiric poet and polemical writer for the Protestant cause, who based his material on the adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel, characters created by the French satirist François Rabelais. This period marked the first appearance in literature of the legendary scholar Johann Faust in the anonymous prose fiction Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten, published in 1587.

Late in the 15th century German drama, hitherto restricted to passion plays and other religious spectacles, began to take on secular form in the Fastnachtsspiele (“Shrovetide plays”), allegorical comic dramas performed during the carnival season. Worldly elements gradually penetrated even the religious Christmas and Easter plays. Among the important dramatists of the Reformation period were Burkard Waldis (c. 1495–1557), who also wrote satiric fables, Nikodemus Frischlin (1547–90), and Hans Sachs, a poet and dramatist who was noted for his Fastnachtsspiele.

An attempt to bring French influences into German literature was made during the early 17th century by the critic Martin Opitz (1597–1639). In his principal work, Das Buch von der deutschen Poeterey (Book of German Poetry, 1624), Opitz demanded that German writers imitate contemporary French models in style, meter, and pattern. Although some of the literary academies carried his rules to extremes of complicated formality, several poets, influenced by Opitz, achieved an increased individuality of expression. Among them were Simon Dach (1605–59); Paul Flemming (1609–40); Johann Scheffler (1624–77), commonly called Angelus Silesius; and Baron Friedrich von Logau (1604–55). Protestant poetry of the 17th century reached its height in the hymns of Paul Gerhardt (1607–76).

The development of German literature was halted for more than a generation by the Thirty Years' War. The effects of the conflict can be seen in the work of the novelist Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen. His tale of a disillusioned farmer's son, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus (1669; The Adventurous Simplicissimus, 1912), is the first great novel in the German language. Such comedies as Peter Squenz (1663) by the satirist Andreas Gryphius also describe the disillusionment and disenchantment that inevitably followed the war.

18th Century.

By the beginning of the 18th century German cultural life had become increasingly receptive to new literary models and ideas. Such novels as Robinson Crusoe by the English novelist Daniel Defoe were widely read in Germany, leading to the decline of the heroic narrative and to greater realism in German fiction. A notable critic of the period was Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700–66), whose Versuch einer critischen Dichtkunst vor die Deutschen (Attempt at a Critical Theory of Poetry for the Germans, 1730) established standards derived from the logic and precision of French literature. Gottsched also attempted to reform the drama, both as a literary arbiter and as a translator of French, Greek, and Latin plays. His literary influence, however, was challenged by a group of young writers who wished to liberate German literature from the restrictive influence of foreign models. Stimulated by the nationalism of Frederick the Great, but influenced also by his extensive cultural interests, these writers led one of the greatest periods in German literature. Among the successive phases of this era were the preclassical period (1748–88), the Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”) movement (beginning c. 1770), and the classical (1788–98) and romantic (1798–1832) periods.

Preclassical period.

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715–69), an early writer of the preclassical period, enjoyed great popularity with his didactic fables, poems, novels, and comedies. Of greater importance, however, was the poet and dramatist Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. In his religious epic Messias (4 vol., 1751–73; The Messiah, 1810) and in his collection of odes he introduced strong personal emotion into German poetry. Even more important, Klopstock's conception of the holy mission of the poet profoundly influenced subsequent writers. Christoph Martin Wieland, author of the epic Oberon (1780; trans. 1798), also affected the course of German literature by translating Shakespeare's plays into German. Wieland's Agathon (1766–67; The History of Agathon, 1773) is considered the earliest psychological novel in German literature.

The dramas of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, notable for their characters and passion, formed the foundation of modern German drama. He gave the German stage its first tragedy of everyday life in Miss Sara Sampson (1755; trans. 1789), and in his dramatic poem Nathan der Weise (1779; Nathan the Wise, 1781) he made an ardent appeal for religious tolerance. Minna von Barnhelm (1767; The Disbanded Officer, 1786) is a skillful comedy. In his influential critical treatise Laocoön (1766; trans. 1930), Lessing brought the spirit of the Enlightenment to Germany (see ENLIGHTENMENT, AGE OF,).

Sturm und Drang.

The philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder was the dominant figure of this new movement, which took its name from the play Sturm und Drang (1776) by Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (1752–1831), one of a group of young writers who were delighted by Herder's rejection of traditional authorities. The members of this group abandoned rationalism and the concern with form and structure that had characterized classical and French drama. Influenced by Herder's study of primitive peoples and folk culture, they emphasized the use of national or folk elements, and sought inspiration in the Volkslied and other aspects of German culture. Their longing for emancipation was symbolized in poems and dramas centering on heroic individualists possessed by uncontrolled emotions and engaged in immense conflicts.

Many elements of Sturm und Drang can be found in the early dramas of two of the greatest German authors, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller. Goethe's early play Götz von Berlichingen (1773; trans. 1799), greatly influenced by Shakespeare's dramas, concerns a 16th-century knight, opposed to aristocracy and the church, who leads a revolt of the peasants. Introspective melancholy, another feature of Sturm und Drang, is clearly shown in Goethe's novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774; The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1779). The sentimental hero, disappointed in love, kills himself; hundreds of young male readers are said to have followed Werther's example. Goethe's most important work of this period is the so-called Urfaust, the oldest preserved version of his long poetic drama Faust (2 vol., 1808–32; trans. 1834), completed in the last years of the poet's life. Schiller, in his Die Räuber (1781; The Robbers, 1800) and Kabale und Liebe (1783; Intrigue and Love, 1849), emphasized the political aspects of Sturm und Drang, attacking political tyranny and social corruption.

Classical period.

The development of Goethe and Schiller, after the period of their early dramas, represents one of the major achievements of the classical period in German literature—an era notable for its emotional restraint, temperance of thought, and lucidity of expression. Both writers were influenced by the extensive philosophical activity of the period, which culminated in the idealism of the philosopher Immanuel Kant and his disciple Johann Gottlieb Fichte. During the classical period, moreover, Goethe and Schiller became close friends despite differences in their philosophical attitudes. Schiller believed in absolute ethical ideals, which provide the motive force of his greatest dramatic works: the Wallenstein trilogy (1798–99; trans. 1839), Maria Stuart (1800; trans. 1833), Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801; The Maid of Orleans, 1835), and Wilhelm Tell (1804; William Tell, 1825). Goethe derived his philosophy from his experiences as lyric poet, balladeer, dramatist, novelist, essayist, scientist, and political figure. He lived according to the ideal expressed in his Faust: never to be satisfied with what one is, but to strive incessantly to learn, to improve, to accomplish. His writings clearly show his development from youthful rebellion to the search for emotional restraint, objectivity, beauty, and the ideal human personality. The two parts of Faust, moreover, have often been considered representative of the prevailing tendencies of German literature; the first part contains many elements of the literary movement known as romanticism, and the second represents the classicism most admired by Goethe.

These elements may also be found in the work of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin, whose admiration for the harmony of the classical world was vitiated, as Goethe and his contemporaries saw it, by his visionary religious attitude. Hölderlin himself explored the conflict between absolute Ideals and the problems of existence in his epistolary novel Hyperion (2 vol., 1797–99; trans. 1927) and in his poetry. Another highly individualistic writer of the late classical period, the dramatist and short-story writer Heinrich von Kleist, portrayed heroic characters in conflict with their destiny. His comedies Der zerbrochene Krug (1806, pub. about 1811; The Broken Pitcher, 1961) and Amphytrion (1807; trans. 1962) depict human conflict in an almost tragic manner. The tales of the humorist Johann Friedrich Richter (usually known by the pseudonym Jean Paul), with their fantasy and their sense of the grotesque, bring him close to the romantic movement, which dominated German literature at the beginning of the 19th century.

Romantic period.

The increasing romantic tendency of German literature, as expressed, for example, in some of the later writings of Goethe, became dominant in 1798, with the first issue of the journal Athenaeum, edited by three friends, the writer Ludwig Tieck and the critics August Wilhelm von Schlegel and Friedrich von Schlegel. ROMANTICISM, (q.v.) in the literature of Germany, as in that of other countries, resulted from a fusion of political, philosophical, and artistic elements. The Napoleonic Wars awakened a new sense of national identity in German writers, while increasing their admiration for such heroic individuals as Napoleon and Ludwig van Beethoven. The nationalistic elements of romanticism were furthered in Germany by the philosopher and theologian Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher, who stressed the virtues of national independence and influenced such poets as Ernst Moritz Arndt and Karl Theodor Körner (1791–1813). The work of the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling gave the movement a philosophical base for its mysticism and belief in the ultimate oneness of the natural and spiritual world. Folktales and mythology, another concern of German romanticism, received attention in the collections made by two scholars, the Grimm brothers, Jacob Ludwig Karl and Wilhelm Karl. A notable collection of German folk songs was formed by the poet and dramatist Clemens Maria Brentano and his brother-in-law Achim von Arnim, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (3 vol., 1805–8; The Boy's Magic Horn, 1841).

Romantic themes characterize the work of the poet Baron Friedrich von Hardenberg, known as Novalis, author of the mysterious and deeply religious Hymnen an die Nacht (1800; Hymns to the Night, 1889) and of the novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802; trans. 1842). Ludwig Tieck, poet, dramatist, and novelist, lacked the depth and religious feeling of Novalis, but he was extremely facile, gifted in the expression of poetic, fantastic, and satiric elements. Joseph von Eichendorff praised the beauty of nature in his poems and the virtues of idleness in his prose work Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (1826; The Love Frolics of a Young Scamp, 1864). The genuine tenderness of folk songs can be found in the poems of Adelbert von Chamisso, but many have tragic elements, as does his prose work, Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814; Peter Schlemihl's Remarkable Story, 1927). The great balladeer of this generation was Ludwig Uhland. One of the masters of poetry and prose was Eduard Friedrich Mörike; the calm composure in his writing contrasted with the melancholy of Nikolaus Lenau's poetry. Most of the romantic poets were also gifted storytellers, but the most original prose writer of this period was E. T. A. Hoffmann, the master of tales dealing with the supernatural.

Revolution and Reaction.

(1832–71) During the 1830s a new generation of writers turned from the fantasies of romanticism to participate in political events. Forming a movement known as Junges Deutschland (Young Germany), they supported the attempts of liberal elements in various parts of Germany to modify the absolute rule of the surviving feudal princes. The major philosopher of this period was G. W. F. Hegel, whose rationalistic idealism greatly influenced the lyric poet and critic Heinrich Heine. The latter, a dominant figure among the new writers, began his career with ironic poems on romantic themes. He became famous with the publication of his Buch der Lieder (1827; Book of Songs, 1846). After the failure of the revolution of 1830, he fled to Paris, where he wrote his major poetry and produced many critical articles on contemporary art and politics. A perceptive observer, Heine anticipated many of the techniques of modern journalism. Another political exile, Ludwig Börne (1786–1837), attempted to invigorate German political activity in his Briefe aus Paris (Letters from Paris, 1830–33).

19th-century drama.

Political ideas dominated the German drama of the 19th century. In addition to Kleist, Christian Dietrich Grabbe (1801–36) and other writers produced significant plays. Most important, however, was the revolutionary dramatist Georg Büchner, a pioneer in psychological realism whose works continue to be widely performed. His Dantons Tod (1835; Danton's Death, 1927) explores the sense of futility and apathy that affected the French revolutionary leader Georges Jacques Danton at the close of his life. In Wozzeck (1836; trans. 1927)—well known in the modern operatic version by the Austrian composer Alban Berg—Büchner depicts the tragic disintegration of a poor soldier victimized by an unjust and cruel society. The topic, style, and deep psychological insight of this play mark it as the beginning of modern German drama.

Psychological realism and political perception also characterize the historical tragedies of Friedrich Hebbel and the poetic dramas of the Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer. Ferdinand Raimund (1790–1836) wrote comedies that took place in a world of fairy tales and magic happenings but reflected his deep melancholy. Entertaining satires were composed by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy (1801–62); and Ludwig Anzengruber (1839–89) wrote plays of peasant life, anticipating, in his concern with social problems, the literary movement known as naturalism.

The German theater of the 19th century was profoundly influenced by the composer Richard Wagner. A participant in the unsuccessful revolution of 1848, Wagner produced numerous prose writings describing the importance of the drama in the development of civilization and calling for a union of the arts in the form known as music drama. As a poet, he wrote the texts of his music dramas, celebrating the great traditions of German literature in such works as Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867) and Parsifal (1882). Wagner in turn was influenced by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, whose darkly pessimistic thought may be considered typical of the defeatist temper that followed the political repression of 1848. Schopenhauer, in his principal work Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (1819; The World as Will and Idea, 1883), conceived of a fundamental active principle, the will, that operates as a driving force in all forms of existence and that, in human beings, causes inevitable dissatisfaction and suffering unless balanced by a sense of saintly resignation. This conception of a primal governing force in human behavior was to have a significant influence on subsequent German literature and philosophy.

19th-century prose.

The popular storytellers of the mid-19th century included the poet Baroness Annette Elisabeth von Droste-Hülshoff, known for her novella Die Judenbache (1842; The Jew's Beech, 1958). Detailed descriptions of nature characterize the novels of Adalbert Stifter (1805–68); Der Nachsommer (Indian Summer, 1857) and Witiko (3 vol., 1865–67) are his best-known works. The Swiss novelist Gottfried Keller, in his autobiographical novel Der grüne Heinrich (4 vol., 1854–55; Green Henry, 1960), continued the tradition of the Bildungsroman that began with a work by Goethe, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (4 vol., 1795–96; Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, 1824). Rural life, and the problems of the individual in an expanding society, are portrayed by the novelists Albert Bitzius (1797–1854), who used the pseudonym Jeremias Gotthelf, and Wilhelm Raabe (1831–1910). Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825–98), a poet and novelist, chose characters from the Middle Ages for many of his ballads and stories. The unity of human beings and nature forms a recurrent theme in the poetry and novellas of Theodor Storm (1817–88). Immensee (1852; trans. 1863), one of his best-known stories, is a lyrical, nostalgic tale of childhood. His later, darker style is shown in Der Schimmelreiter (1888; Rider of the White Horse, 1915), which shows the effect of the sea on the lives of shore dwellers. Theodor Fontane, a writer of ballads and novels, is noted for his perceptive criticisms of German society at the end of the 19th century.

The prevailing idealism of German philosophy was rejected in favor of materialism by Paul Johann Anselm von Feuerbach, whose work influenced the German revolutionists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Among the many scholars who furthered the development of the science of history during this period were Leopold von Ranke, considered a founder of the objective writing of history, Theodor Mommsen, an expert in Roman studies, and Jakob Burckhardt, noted for Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (1860; The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1878). The development of Germany as a nation was studied by Wilhelm Häring (1798–1871), who used the pseudonym Willibald Alexis, and by the ardent nationalist Heinrich von Treitschke.

German Nationalism

(1871–1945). After the unification of the German states in 1871, the revolutionary tendencies of German literature began increasingly to conflict with the militarism and economic materialism of the German middle class. Representing, in the main, the latter, the Prussian statesman and first chancellor of the German Empire, Prince Otto von Bismarck, expressed the prevailing view of contemporary society in his memoirs entitled Gedanken und Erinnerungen (1898; Bismarck: His Reflections and Reminiscences, 1898). A powerful criticism of existing social values, however, was advanced by the poet and philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. In such works as Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886; Beyond Good and Evil, 1907) and Wille zur Macht (1901; The Will to Power, 1967), Nietzsche rejected both the traditional religious values of bourgeois morality and the prevailing idealism of German philosophy. His poetic vision of a new type of human being as the dominant figure of a radically transformed society is presented in the prose poem Also sprach Zarathustra (1883; Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896). This new type, the Übermensch (“superman”), would embody the best qualities of the creative individual, who is the highest expression of the “will to power,” the force that produces all human endeavor.

Nietzsche's concern with the inner forces of the human personality profoundly influenced the course of early 20th-century thought. In psychology, Sigmund Freud and the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung were greatly indebted to Nietzsche for their theories of the human psyche. From Nietzsche's idea of the cyclical recurrence of events, the philosopher of history Oswald Spengler formulated his principles of historical determinism. These developments in psychology and historical studies, when combined with Nietzsche's conception of the artist as a radical critic of society, influenced the major literary movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: NATURALISM,, EXPRESSIONISM, (qq.v.), and the epic theater.

Naturalism.

The naturalistic movement in literature occurred after the rise of REALISM, (q.v.). Realism calls for an art reflecting both the good and the evil forces that affect human life. Naturalism, on the other hand, is a form of artistic determinism and depicts a bleak world in which people are trapped and doomed to defeat and disaster by uncontrollable forces. Symbols often used by naturalistic writers include sickness; insanity; senility; hypocrisy in religion, family relationships, and government; and the entrapping forces of economics, heredity, race, class, and environment. The artistic principles of the naturalist movement were described by the critic and writer Arno Holz (1863–1929) in his treatise Die Kunst (Art, 1891). Holz was also the coauthor, with Johannes Schalf (1862–1941), of three dramatic naturalistic stories under the collective title Papa Hamlet (1889). Certain elements of naturalism, especially those dealing with the erotic aspects of life, appear in the dramas of the Austrian physician and playwright Arthur Schnitzler. The principal representative of the naturalist movement, however, was the dramatist Gerhart Hauptmann. In his play Vor Sonnenaufgang (1899; Before Dawn, 1909), he depicted human beings as victims of heredity and environment, doomed to hopeless struggles against forces beyond their control. This theme, and the manner of its presentation, anticipated many similar treatments in modern literature. A later Hauptmann play, Die Weber (1892; The Weavers, 1899), introduced the social group as hero of the drama. Hauptmann's later writings represent a transition from naturalism to the literary movement known as impressionism, in which precise realism is replaced by a depiction of the impressions that objects make on the individual vision of the artist.

Among other principal movements in the German literature of the early 20th century were neoclassicism (see CLASSIC, CLASSICAL, AND CLASSICISM,), neoromanticism, symbolism (see SYMBOLIST MOVEMENT,), SURREALISM,, DADA, (qq.v.), and, most important, expressionism, in which the emphasis on psychological problems became especially pronounced.

Expressionism.

Originating in painting, expressionism began to influence German literature about 1910. A reaction to naturalism and impressionism, which were concerned primarily with the realistic representation of existence, the new movement had as its object the expression, or portrayal, of the inner feelings, experiences, and reactions of the artist or writer. The expressionist writer embodied Nietzsche's concept of the artist as a critic of traditional values. Like the painter, moreover, the poet or novelist was expected to portray the powerful forces within the human personality. Exaggerated emotional language and the depiction of abstract types rather than realistic characters became means to this end. The German playwright Frank Wedekind, an early expressionist with a sense of grotesque humor, fought against social convention and demanded a new sexual morality. Such forces as adolescent rebellion and amoral sexuality are portrayed in his plays Frühlings Erwachen (1891; The Awakening of Spring, 1909) and Die Büchse der Pandora (1904; Pandora's Box, 1918). The latter was the basis both for a film (1928) and for Lulu (incomplete posthumous production, 1937), an opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg.

The conflict of generations became for several expressionist writers a symbol of the criticism of traditional values, as in Der Sohn (The Son, 1914) by Walter Hasenclever (1890–1940). Antiwar attitudes found expression after World War I in plays by Ernst Toller, Fritz von Unruh, and others. Georg Kaiser, in his immense dramatic production, was a specialist in epigrammatic dialogue, which suited the abstract, symbolic nature of his characters. Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977), perhaps the most popular dramatist of his generation, is especially noted for his vivid characterizations. Among his best-known works are the drama Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (1931; The Captain of Koepenick, 1932) and the script for Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel, 1930), a film by Josef von Sternberg (1894–1969).

The expressionist movement produced several poets of remarkable originality. Their central topic was the crisis of individual and collective values, as in the poems of Georg Trakl (1887–1914), filled with longing and loneliness; or of Georg Heym (1887–1912), who expressed despair over the misery and solitude of urban life. Franz Werfel, an Austrian writer, the greatest poet of expressionism, wrote of his longing for harmony between people and nature.

Epic theater.

The most original and stimulating dramatist of the modern period was Bertolt Brecht. He began as an expressionist but soon developed his own style by introducing his epic theater, using ballads, documentary techniques, and other innovations as commentary on the dramatic action. Like Wagner, he believed in the mission of the stage as the center of political and moral teachings. In his many plays, among them Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (1941; Mother Courage and Her Children, 1963), Der kaukasische Kreidekreis (1944–45; The Caucasian Chalk Circle, 1948), and Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (1943; The Good Woman of Setzuan, 1948), he wrote dramatic parables to educate his audience. Brecht's influence was worldwide, and many younger writers adopted the dramatic techniques he developed. Among Brecht's disciples, Peter Weiss (1916–82), best known for his passionate documentary drama Marat/Sade (1964; trans. 1965), Rolf Hochhuth (1931– ), and Heinar Kipphardt (1922–82) have been successful with the so-called documentary theater in which historical events are presented onstage. The Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt has enlivened the theater with a number of eclectic, cynical, and melodramatic plays. Max Rudolf Frisch holds stronger beliefs and deeper moral convictions than Dürrenmatt, but has been less successful in attracting an international audience.

The 20th-century novel.

The strong narrative trend that can be felt in some of Hauptmann's plays became prominent in his novel Der Narr in Christo Emanuel Quint (1910; The Fool in Christ, Emanuel Quint, 1911), the story of a religiously enraptured young carpenter whose martyrdom is frustrated by the profane world. Schnitzler's prose forfeited action in favor of interior monologue. In Leutnant Gustl (1900; None but the Brave, 1925) and Fräulein Else (1924; trans. 1925) he created a new technique of dealing with the subconscious. Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (3 vol., 1930–42; The Man Without Qualities, 1953–60) by the Austrian writer Robert Musil (1880–1942) is an intellectual and psychological mirror of a dying cultural epoch in Europe. Hermann Broch (1886–1951), in his trilogy Die Schlafwandler (1931–32; The Sleepwalkers, 1932), also described the disintegration and decay of the old bourgeois society. Monumental pictures of historical events and personalities can be found in the writings of Ricarda Huch (1864–1947). In prose Franz Werfel's best-known works are the novels Die vierzig Tage des Musa Dagh (1933; The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, 1934) and Das Lied von Bernadette (1941; The Song of Bernadette, 1942). Alfred Döblin (1878–1957) in his most expressionistic novel Alexanderplatz, Berlin (1930; trans. 1931) found an original montagelike style for presenting the situation of Berlin workers.

The most eminent modern German novelists are Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, and Franz Kafka. Mann, in his first novel, Buddenbrooks (1901; trans. 1904), stated a recurrent theme of his work: the conflict between the smug, prosperous representatives of healthy bourgeois life and the perceptive, often sickly artist. The conflicts and difficulties of the creative personality are the topic of many of Mann's masterly novels and short stories. In Der Zauberberg (1924; The Magic Mountain, 1927) he offered what is in effect an allegory of Western intellectual life on the eve of World War I. A bitter opponent of National Socialism, Mann left Germany in 1933, and several of the four volumes of Joseph und seine Brüder (1933–44; Joseph and His Brothers, 1933–44) were finished in exile. His despair over the fate of Germany and his concern with the creative artist are eloquently portrayed in Doctor Faustus (1947; trans. 1948), a study of German cultural life during the rise of National Socialism. Heinrich Mann, the brother of the great novelist, was also an opponent of fascism and is known for such political satires as Der Untertan (1918; The Patrioteer, 1921).

The writings of Hesse express a sense of spiritual loneliness, often tempered by the wisdom and the mysticism of Oriental philosophy. Hesse described the alienation and duality of nature of modern people in his Demian (1919; trans. 1923) and Steppenwolf (1927; trans. 1929). Perhaps his greatest work, Das Glasperlenspiel (1943; trans. as Magister Ludi, 1949; trans. as The Glass Bead Game, 1969), advocates a new ethical and intellectual aristocracy. Hesse, once little read except in Germany, enjoyed a considerable revival during the 1960s, especially among U.S. students.

No modern writer in German has exercised a more extraordinary influence on contemporary fiction than the Austrian writer Kafka. His novels Der Prozess (1925; The Trial, 1937), Das Schloss (1926; The Castle, 1930), and Amerika (1927; trans. 1938) and his many short stories offer a fascinating account of a disjointed and inscrutable world haunted by loss of faith and direction. Kafka's apparently simple narrative style gave a new depth to the expressionist principle, suggesting the mystery of human experience through suggestive symbols.

Modern poetry.

The modern era of German poetry begins with Nietzsche, who wrote lyric poetry of the impressionist and expressionist schools. His influence can be traced in the lyrics and prose of Gottfried Benn (1886–1956), whose almost nihilistic disillusion and despair underlay his search for positive values. A strong resentment of social injustice characterizes the poems of Richard Dehmel (1863–1920). Hugo von Hofmannsthal developed his poetic gifts in lyric poems and in librettos for operas by the German composer Richard Strauss. The leading exponent of the symbolist movement in German poetry was Stefan George, who, like Nietzsche, attempted to revive the role of the poet as a critic of materialism and corruption. A similar mission was proposed by perhaps the best known of modern German poets, Rainer Maria Rilke. In his Die Sonette an Orpheus (1923; Sonnets to Orpheus, 1936), Rilke sought to convey the poet's mysterious perceptions of beauty.

Conflict and Revival Since 1946.

The conflict between the radical artist, as conceived by Nietzsche, and an increasingly materialistic, militaristic society reached its extreme phase during the 1930s. The rise of National Socialism and the totalitarian government of Adolf Hitler virtually destroyed German culture. The National Socialists imposed a trivial realism and a nationalistic fanaticism on literature. Many writers were compelled to leave Germany, either as victims of persecution or because they were unwilling to live under an oppressive dictatorship. During this period the only significant German literature was produced by writers in exile from their native land—among them, for example, Thomas Mann and the German-Swedish poet Nelly Leonie Sachs, cowinner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in literature, who lived in exile in Sweden from 1940, continuing to write in German. “O the Chimneys,” her most famous poem, is a moving testament to the tragedy of the Jews under Nazism.

After the collapse of the Hitler regime, a considerable revival of German literature occurred. Many new writers continued work in the 20th-century novel and in modern poetry. The radio play became a promising new art form; many such dramas, devoted to analyses of modern life, have been contributed by writers otherwise known as poets, short-story writers, and novelists—including Marie Luise Kaschnitz (1901–74), Günther Eich (1907–72), Wolfgang Weyrauch (1907–80), Ilse Aichinger (1921– ), and Siegfried Lenz (1926– ).

Outstanding among the new generation of German novelists who gained success after World War II are Heinrich Böll, winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in literature, Uwe Johnson, Günter W. Grass, and Lenz, members of Gruppe 47, a group of dynamic young writers committed to free expression and dissatisfied with complacent attitudes toward the war. Böll's Billard um Halbzehn (1959; Billiards at Half-Past Nine, 1962) probes German history in a story of one family over the last half century. Like his Gruppenbild mit Dame (1971; Group Portrait with Lady, 1972), it became popular in English translation. A semiautobiographical trilogy by Johnson, Jahrestage (1970–73; Anniversaries, 1975), treats moral and political issues in the U.S. of the 1960s and Germany in the 1930s. Grass, winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in literature, wrote novels often dealing with the conflict between modern society and its critics, such as Die Blechtrommel (1959; The Tin Drum, 1963), a freewheeling satire on Nazi Germany, made into a film in 1979, and Ein weites Feld (1995, A Broad Field), a novel expressing his dissatisfaction with Germany in the years after the country's reunification in 1991. F.G.G., FREDERICK G. GOLDBERG, Ph.D.