Richard Beer-Hofmann published fewer than a dozen books, but they include varied works of drama, prose, and poetry, and pioneered several literary movements. Beer-Hofmann also was known as a charming and popular member of the “Young Vienna” literary circle and a theatrical producer and director in Vienna, Salzburg, and Berlin. His Old Testament dramas reflect his strong identity as a Jewish writer. Like his other plays, they also display his mission to rid the theater of Naturalism and anticipate features of Expressionism. Beer-Hofmann’s acclaimed novel Der Tod Georgs [Georg’s Death, 1900] and his novellas, in the Viennese Jugendstil or “art nouveau” style, are among the earliest and most beautiful German examples of the “stream of consciousness” technique. Lacking external action, they portray the inner lives of modern individuals, their thoughts, fantasies, sensual experiences,...
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Citation: Saur, Pamela S.. "Richard Beer-Hofmann". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12111, accessed 14 December 2025.]
