Gerhart Hauptmann, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1912

Gerhart Hauptmann (15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.

Life and work

Hauptmann was born in Obersalzbrunn, a small town of Silesia, now known as Szczawno-Zdrój and a part of Poland. He was the son of a hotel-keeper. After attending the village school he went to the Realschule in Breslau, after which he was sent to learn agriculture on his uncle's farm at Jauer. Having no taste for country life, Hauptmann soon returned to Breslau and entered the art school with the intention of becoming a sculptor. There he met his life-long friend Josef Block. He later studied at the University of Jena and spent the greater part of 1883 and 1884 in Italy. In May 1885, Hauptmann married and settled in Berlin and, devoting himself entirely to literary work, soon attained a reputation as one of the chief representatives of the modern drama.

In 1891 he moved to Schreiberhau in Silesia. Hauptmann's first drama, Before Dawn (1889) inaugurated the naturalistic movement in modern German literature. It was followed by The Reconciliation (1890), Lonely People (1891) and The Weavers (1892), a powerful drama depicting the rising of the Silesian weavers in 1844 for which he is best known outside of Germany.

Hauptmann's subsequent work includes the comedies Colleague Crampton (1892), The Beaver Coat (1893), and The Conflagration (1901), the symbolist dream play The Assumption of Hannele (1893), and an historical drama Florian Geyer (1895). He also wrote two tragedies of Silesian peasant life, Drayman Henschel (1898) and Rose Bernd (1903), and the dramatic fairy-tales The Sunken Bell (1896) and And Pippa Dances (1906).

Hauptmann's marital life was difficult and in 1904 he divorced his wife. That same year he married the actress Margarete Marschalk, who had borne him a son four years earlier. The following year he had an affair with the 17-year-old Austrian actress Ida Orloff, whom he met in Berlin when she performed in his play The Assumption of Hannele. Orloff inspired characters in several of Hauptmann's works and he later referred to her as his muse.

In 1911 he wrote The Rats. In 1912, Hauptmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art."

During the First World War Hauptmann was a pacifist. In this period of his career he wrote several gloomy historical-allegorical plays, such as The Bow of Odysseus (1914), The White Saviour (1912–17), and Winter Ballade (1917). After the war, his dramatic abilities appeared to diminish. He wrote two full-length plays that are similar to the early successes: Dorothea Angermann (1926) and Before Sunset (1932). He remained in Germany after Hitler's Machtergreifung and survived the bombing of Dresden. His last work was the Atriden-Tetralogie (1942–46). His works in German were published by S. Fischer Verlag.

Hauptmann died at the age of 83 at his home in Agnetendorf (now Jagniątków, Poland) in 1946. Since the Polish communist administration did not allow Hauptmann's relatives to bury him in Agnetendorf (although even the Soviet military government had recommended this), his body was transported in an old cattle wagon to occupied Germany more than a month after his death. He was buried near his cottage on Hiddensee.

Gerhart Hauptmann (15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912. Contents [show] [edit]Life and work

Hauptmann was born in Obersalzbrunn, a small town of Silesia, now known as Szczawno-Zdrój and a part of Poland. He was the son of a hotel-keeper. After attending the village school he went to the Realschule in Breslau, after which he was sent to learn agriculture on his uncle's farm at Jauer. Having no taste for country life, Hauptmann soon returned to Breslau and entered the art school with the intention of becoming a sculptor. There he met his life-long friend Josef Block. He later studied at the University of Jena and spent the greater part of 1883 and 1884 in Italy. In May 1885, Hauptmann married and settled in Berlin and, devoting himself entirely to literary work, soon attained a reputation as one of the chief representatives of the modern drama. In 1891 he moved to Schreiberhau in Silesia. Hauptmann's first drama, Before Dawn (1889) inaugurated the naturalistic movement in modern German literature. It was followed by The Reconciliation (1890), Lonely People (1891) and The Weavers (1892), a powerful drama depicting the rising of the Silesian weavers in 1844 for which he is best known outside of Germany. Hauptmann's subsequent work includes the comedies Colleague Crampton (1892), The Beaver Coat (1893), and The Conflagration (1901), the symbolist dream play The Assumption of Hannele (1893), and an historical drama Florian Geyer (1895). He also wrote two tragedies of Silesian peasant life, Drayman Henschel (1898) and Rose Bernd (1903), and the dramatic fairy-tales The Sunken Bell (1896) and And Pippa Dances (1906). Hauptmann's marital life was difficult and in 1904 he divorced his wife. That same year he married the actress Margarete Marschalk, who had borne him a son four years earlier. The following year he had an affair with the 17-year-old Austrian actress Ida Orloff, whom he met in Berlin when she performed in his play The Assumption of Hannele. Orloff inspired characters in several of Hauptmann's works and he later referred to her as his muse. In 1911 he wrote The Rats. In 1912, Hauptmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art." During the First World War Hauptmann was a pacifist. In this period of his career he wrote several gloomy historical-allegorical plays, such as The Bow of Odysseus (1914), The White Saviour (1912–17), and Winter Ballade (1917). After the war, his dramatic abilities appeared to diminish. He wrote two full-length plays that are similar to the early successes: Dorothea Angermann (1926) and Before Sunset (1932). He remained in Germany after Hitler's Machtergreifung and survived the fire storm of Dresden. His last work was the Atriden-Tetralogie (1942–46). His works in German were published by S. Fischer Verlag. Hauptmann died at the age of 83 at his home in Agnetendorf (now Jagniątków, Poland) in 1946. Since the Polish communist administration did not allow Hauptmann's relatives to bury him in Agnetendorf (although even the Soviet military government had recommended it), his body was transported in an old cattle wagon to occupied Germany more than a month after his death. He was buried near his cottage on Hiddensee. [edit]Works

Poster for a Federal Theatre Project presentation of The Weavers in the 1930s. [edit]Novels Der Narr in Christo Emanuel Quint (1910) Atlantis (1912) Phantom (1923) Wanda, der Dämon (1926) Die Insel der grossen Mutter (1928) Um Volk und Geist (1932) Im Wirbel der Berufung (1936) Der Abenteuer meiner Jugend (1937) [edit]Short novels Bahnwärter Thiel (1888) Die Ketzer von Soana (1924) Marginalien (selected works, reports: 1887–1927) Sonnen (1938) Der Schuss im Park (1939) [edit]Verse novels Romethidenlos (1885) Anna (1921) Die blaue Blume (1924) Till Eulenspiegel (1927) Das Meerwunder (1934) Der grosse Traum (1912–42) [edit]Plays Before Dawn (Vor Sonnenaufgang, 1889) The Reconciliation (Das Friedensfest, 1890) Lonely People (Einsame Menschen, 1891)[1] The Weavers (play) (Die Weber, 1892) Colleague Crampton (College Cramption, 1892) The Beaver Coat (Der Biberpelz, 1893) The Assumption of Hannele (Hanneles Himmelfahrt, 1893) Florian Geyer (1896) Elga (1896) Helios (1896) fragment The Sunken Bell (Die versunkene Glocke, 1896) Pastoral (Das Hirtenlied, 1898) fragment Drayman Henschel (Fuhrmann Henschel, 1898) Schluck and Jau (Schluck und Jau, 1900) Michael Kramer (1900) The Conflagration (Der rote Hahn, 1901) Henry of Auë (Der arme Heinrich, 1902) Rose Bernd (1903) And Pippa Dances (Und Pippa Tanzt!, 1906) The Maidens of the Mount (Die Jungfern von Bischofsberg, 1907) Charlemagne's Hostage (Kaiser Karls Geisel, 1908) Griselda (1909) The Rats (Die Ratten, 1911) Gabriel Schilling's Flight (Gabriel Schillings Flucht, 1912) Peter Brauer (1912) Commemoration Masque (Festspiel in deutschen Reimen, 1913) The Bow of Odysseus (Der Bogen des Odysseus, 1914) Magnus Garbe (1914, second version: 1942) Indipohdi (1920) Veland (1925) Herbert Engelmann (1921–26) Spuk (two plays: Die schwarze Maske and Hexenritt, 1928) Die goldene Harfe (1933) Hamlet in Wittenberg (Hamlet im Wittenberg, 1935) Die Finsternisse (1937) Ulrich von Lichtenstein (1936–37) Die Tochter der Kathedrale (1935–38).