Georg Kaiser

Rhys W. Williams (Swansea University)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 25 Nov 1878
Died 4 Jun 1945
Activity 1898-1945

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist

Resources

Kaiser's Works

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The author of over seventy plays, several novels, poetry and film scripts, Georg Kaiser is considered one of the most important dramatists of the Expressionist period. Born in Magdeburg on 25 November 1878, he left school in 1895 and followed his father into business, working in Argentina, Spain, Italy and Germany. From early on, he was committed to a literary career and this ambition, allied to fragile health, led him to abandon his business profession. He began writing plays as a schoolboy and continued to harbour ambitions as a dramatist. Marriage in 1908 to a wealthy wife enabled him to embark on his literary career: the early influence of Gerhart Hauptmann and Frank Wedekind gave way to that of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's neo-Romanticism, but it was not until the success of

Die Bürger

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1044 words

Citation: Williams, Rhys W.. "Georg Kaiser". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 November 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2432, accessed 04 December 2024.]