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[German Version] (May 1, 1880, Rauenbretzingen, near Schwäbisch Hall – Jan 4, 1940, Munich), German writer and art critic, whose literary works and meditations on the philosophy of history reflected a conservative Catholic stance. The oldest of ten children of a peasant family, he attended the Catholic boarding school in Ehingen. After passing his Abitur, he studied theology in Tübingen as well as Germanic philology and art history in Munich and Freiburg im Breisgau. From 1904 to 1920, he was on the editorial staff of the Catholic cultural journal Hochland; in 1920 he became the art…

[German Version] (Sep 15, 1885, Halle – Oct 2, 1974, Ebenhausen, near Munich), German writer. Seidel was the niece of Heinrich Seidel ( Leberect Hünchen, 1882–1890; ET: Leberecht Hünchen, 1913), an author noted for his middle-class (Biedermeier) idylls, whose son Heinrich Wolfgang, a pastor and writer, she married in 1907. She lived in Munich, Berlin, Eberswalde, and after 1934 in Starnberg. Her works, characterized by a predilection for neo-Romanticism and nature mysticism, are wr…

[German Version] (May 18, 1887, Kleinort, a forester’s lodge near Sensburg [Mrągowo, Poland] – Aug 24, 1950, Uerikon), German writer, whose fundamental humanistic and ethical position made him a moral authority during the Third Reich and the early postwar period. Wiechert, the son of a forester, studied at Königsberg (Kaliningrad). In 1911 he became a high school teacher, and in 1914 he volunteered for military service. After the war, he worked as a Gymnasium teacher in Königsberg and Berlin-Charl…

[German Version] (Nov 25, 1878, Magdeburg – Jun 4, 1945, Ascona), wrote more than 70 dramas and is considered one of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th century. He was one of the most staged authors of the 1920s and an important representative of Berlin's literary intellectualism, but sank into oblivion after 1933. From a thematic and formal point of view, Kaiser's dramas are strongly influenced by Expressionism. In his two-part drama Gas (1918/1920), he denounc…

[German Version] (Sep 14, 1817, Husum [then under Danish rule] – Jul 4, 1888, Hademarschen), German poet and novelist, whose North Frisian background left an enduring mark on his work. His upbringing was vague on all issues of religion; as a consequence, he turned his back on Christianity and developed instead a humanistic commitment to life in this world, which nevertheless had melancholic and sometimes pessimistic elements occasioned by its denial of transcendental hopes. After stu…

[German Version] also known as “Weimar Classicism,” refers to a period in the history of literature which is primarily represented by the mature works of J.W. v. Goethe and F. v. Schiller, and is thus generally dated from 1786 (the beginning of Goethe's first journey to Italy) to 1805 (Schiller's death). In a wider sense, the literary classics also include authors such as H. v. Kleist, Jean Paul, and F. Hölderlin; however, the poetic and aesthetic-philosophical writings of the “Dioscurian pair” Goethe and Schiller undoubtedly epitomized the style, essence, and thought of what ¶ would lat…

[German Version] (Nov 18, 1768, Königsberg [Kaliningrad] – Jan 17, 1823, Vienna), German writer and Catholic priest. His father, professor of history at Königsberg, died early; the enthusiastic Pietism of his mother exercised a powerful influence on him. He began to study law and finance in 1784; in 1793, without concluding his studies, he entered Prussian government service. He led an unsteady life, fluctuating between an idealistic image of the artis…

[German Version] I. Philosophy Naturalism is a polysemous concept; its meaning depends on whether it is used (1) affirmatively or (2) with critical intention, depending on the presupposed understanding of nature. ¶ 1. Affirmative naturalism. When (a) the one nature of all things is contained in God in such a way that nothing can be contrasted with it, the gods and human beings are also (and unconditionally) conceived of as parts of this whole. The gods are then identical with the forces of nature (as in Greek religion [Greece: I,…

[German Version] (Sep 20, 1908, Ostrowo, Posen [Ostrów Wielkopolski] – Jan 29, 1984, Bern), German author. His novels, for example Die sterbende Kirche(1936) and Die Freiheit des Gefangenen (1950), informed by his Christian faith, deal with the testing of individuals in a morally indifferent world, in which borderline situations are understood as opportunities for inner transformation and spiritual renewal. His works, popular in the postwar period, are today largely forgotten. Matthias Hurst Bibliog…

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[German Version] 1. Johann Christian ( Jun 3, 1712, Heilbronn – May 8, 1773, Stuttgart). In 1744 he was appointed deacon at the Leonhardskirche in Stuttgart and also court chaplain. In 1759 he was appointed preacher at the collegiate church and consistorial councilor; in 1765 he was appointed prelate of Herrenalb, in 1772 prelate of Alpirsbach. Storr was an independent representative of early Württemberg Pietism in the school of J.A. Bengel. He was critical, however, of Bengel’s interpretation of the…

[German Version] (orig. Netty Reiling, married Radványi; Nov 19, 1900, Mainz – Jun 1, 1983, East Berlin), German writer of Jewish background. In her novels and short stories, she focused on the fate of ordinary workers and social outcasts against the background of political developments in Germany during the Weimar Repub-¶ lic, National Socialism, and the postwar period. She combined an austere, episodic narrative style with mythical and Christian motifs to great effec…

[German Version] (Jul 2, 1724, Quedlinburg – Mar 14, 1803, Hamburg), epic poet, lyricist and dramatist with significant influence on 18th-century German literature, obtained a comprehensive humanist education at the Princes' School in Pforta, which he attended from 1739 to 1745. In 1745, he took up the study of theology and philosophy at the University of Jena, and transferred in 1746 to Leipzig. With the publication of the first three songs of the verse epic Der Messias in 1748, Klopstock immediately attained widespread fame and popularity. In 1750, he traveled to Züri…

[German Version] (Feb 3, 1887, Salzburg – Nov 3, 1914, Krakow), Austrian poet, whose work, under a pall of pessimism and pervaded by enigmatic symbolism, left a permanent mark on German-language lyric poetry (Lyricism). Trakl, the fourth of seven children of Tobias Trakl, an ironmonger, and his wife Maria Catharina, grew up in Salzburg. He matriculated at the Staatsgymnasium there in 1897 but left without graduating in 1905 on account of poor grades. In the same year he began to work as a pharmaci…

[German Version] ( Jul 5, 1886, Lier, Belgium – Jan 24, 1947, Lier), Flemish writer, painter, and illustrator. Between the wars, Timmermans was one of the most popular au…

[German Version] (Oct 23, 1805, Oberplan, Bohemia [now Horní Planá, Czech Republic] – Jan 28, 1868, Linz), Austrian writer and landscape painter. With a humanistic cultural ideal and anthropology rooted in the Enlightenment, he overcame Romanticism and designed a blissful utopian existence whose harmonizing tendencies contained an implicit criticism of the social reality of the 19th century. He discovered his interest in literature, painting, and natural science during his school years at the Bene…

[German Version] (Jul 2, 1877, Calw – Aug 9, 1962, Montagnola, Switzerland), one of the best-known 20th-century German authors. Hesse's life and work were decisively impacted by the dynamic combination of the two cultural spheres that influenced him while he was still living with his parents: the strict faith of Swabian Pietism, which became, for him, a paradigmatic model of a repressive upbringing and an unworldly devoutness, and the influence of Far Eastern c…

[German Version] (Jul 13, 1773, Berlin – Feb 13, 1798, Berlin), German art theorist and writer, whose conception of art made him the forerunner of German Romanticism. At the Gymnasium he attended from 1786 to 1792, he formed a friendship with Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853); while studying law at Erlangen and Göttingen, he regularly attended lectures on art history and cultural history, immersing himself in the aesthetics of antiquity as mediated by Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the painting of the Italian…

[English Version] Weiß, Konrad (1.5.1880 Rauenbretzingen bei Schwäbisch Hall – 4.1.1940 München), dt. Schriftsteller und Kunstkritiker, dessen lit. Werk und geschichtsphilos. Betrachtungen einer kath.-konservativen Grundhaltung entsprangen. Als erstes von zehn Kindern einer kleinbäuerlichen Familie entstammend, besuchte W. das kath. Internat in Ehingen und studierte nach dem Abitur Theol. in Tübingen sowie Germanistik und Kunstgesch. in München und Freiburg i.Br. Von 1904 bis 1920 war er Mitarbeite…

[English Version] Seghers, Anna (eigentlich Netty Reiling, verheiratete Radványi; 19.11.1900 Mainz – 1.6.1983 Berlin-Ost), dt. Schriftstellerin jüd. Herkunft, d…

[English Version] Seidel, Ina (15.9.1885 Halle/Saale – 2.10.1974 Ebenhausen bei München), dt. Schriftstellerin, Nichte des für seine biedermeierlichen (Biedermeier) Idyllen bekannten Autors Heinrich S. (Leberecht Hühnchen, 1882–1890),…

[English Version] Timmermans, Felix (5.7.1886 Lier – 24.1.1947 ebd.), flämisch…

[English Version] Tucholsky, Kurt (9.1.1890 Berlin – 21.12.1935 Hindås bei Göteborg), dt. Schriftsteller und Journalist, der durch vielfältige Publikationen zum krit. Chronisten der Weimarer Republik wurde. Aus einer großbürgerlichen jüd. Familie stammend – der Vater Alex T. war Bankdirektor –, studierte T. nach dem Abitur 1909 Jura in Berlin und wurde 1915 von der Universität Jena promoviert. Anschließend wurde er zum Militärdienst einberufen. Seit 1907 publizierte er bereits Kunst- und Theaterkri…

[English Version] Wiechert, Ernst…

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[English Version] Storm, Theodor (14.9.1817 Husum – 4.7.1888 Hademarschen), dt. Lyriker und Novellist, dessen nordfriesische Abstammung sein lit. Werk thematisch nachhaltig prägte. Seine allen rel. Belangen gegenüber unspezifische Erziehung führte dazu, daß S. sich grundlegend von der christl. Rel. abwandte und statt dessen eine dem diesseitigen Leben verpflichtete humanistische Haltung entwickelte, die gleichwohl in ihrer Verleugnung transzendenter Hoffnungen melancholische und zuweilen pessimisti…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch N. ist ein vieldeutiger Begriff, dessen Sinn davon abhängt, ob er (1) affirmativ oder (2) in krit. Absicht als ein Vorwurf gebraucht wird, und dessen jeweilige Bedeutung sich nach dem vorausgesetzten Verständnis von Natur richtet.…

[English Version] Stifter, Adalbert (23.10.1805 Oberplan, Böhmen – 28.1.1868 Linz), östr. Schriftsteller und Landschaftsmaler, der, einem humanistisch-aufgeklärten Bildungsideal und Menschenbild verpflichtet, die Romantik überwand und die Utopie eines Lebensglücks entwarf, in deren Harmonisierungstendenzen sich implizit eine krit. Haltung gegenüber der gesellschaftlichen Realität des 19.Jh. mischt. Seine Interessen für Lit., Malerei und Naturwiss. entdeckte er während seiner schulischen Ausbildung …

[English Version] Schaper, Edzard (30.9.1908 Ostrowo, Posen – 29.1.1984 Bern), dt. Schriftsteller, dessen in der Nachkriegszeit populären Werke heute weithin vergessen sind. Seine vom christl. Glauben geprägten Romane – z.B. »Die sterbende Kirche« (1936) und »Die Freiheit des Gefangenen« (1950) – handeln von der Bewährung des Individuums in einer moralisch indifferenten Welt, in der Grenzsituationen als Chancen zur inneren Wandlung und geistigen Erneuerung begriffen werden.…

[English Version] Trakl, Georg (3.2.1887 Salzburg – 3.11.1914 Krakau), östr. Lyriker, dessen von Pessimismus überschattetes und von rätselhafter Symbolik durchleuchtetes Werk die deutschsprachige Lyrik nachhaltig beeinflußte. T., das vierte von insg. sieben Kindern des Eisenhändlers Tobias T. und dessen Frau Maria Catharina, wuchs in Salzburg auf. Das Staatsgymnasium, das er ab 1897 besuchte, verließ er wegen schlechter Zensuren nach der siebten Klasse und begann 1905 ein Apothekenpraktikum; hier k…

[English Version] Werner, Zacharias (18.11.1768 Königsberg – 17.1.1823 Wien), dt. Schriftsteller und kath. Priester. W.s Vater, Prof. für Gesch. in Königsberg, starb früh, während die pietistische Schwärmerei seiner Mutter einen starken Einfluß auf ihn ausübte. Ab 1784 studierte W. Jura und Kameralistik und ging 1793 ohne Abschluß in den preußischen Staatsdienst; er litt unter seinem unsteten Lebenswandel, schwankend zw. einem christl. motivierten Künstlerideal und eine…

[English Version] Wackenroder, Wilhelm Heinrich (13.7.1773 Berlin – 13.2.1798 ebd.), dt. Kunsttheoretiker und Schriftsteller, der durch seine Kunstauffassung zum Wegbereiter der dt. Romantik wurde. Auf dem Gymnasium, das er von 1786 bis 1792 besuchte, schloß er Freundschaft mit Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853) und hörte, während er in Erlangen und Göttingen Jura studierte, r…