Hauptmann, Gerhart (1862-1946)

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FirstReportOfTheLaborMuseumAtHullHouse1901_1902-page-002.jpg

First Report of the Labor Museum at Hull House, 1902

Louise de Koven Bowen to Editor of Chicago Evening Post, March 6, 1909

The Reaction of Moral Instructions upon Social Reform, April 3, 1909

The Reaction of Moral Instruction upon Social Reform, April 4, 1909 (excerpt)

THE REACTION OF MODERN LIFE UPON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION-page-002.jpg

The Reaction of Modern Life upon Religious Education, February 11, 1910

Comments on Peace and Bread in Time of War, December 1921

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Birth Date

1862-11-15

Death Date

1946-06-06

Birthplace

Obersalzbrunn, Silesia, Prussia

Biographical Text

Gerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1912. He is considered one of the most important promoters of literary naturalism. He had trouble in school growing up due to illnesses and a general dislike for school, and in 1878 he left school at the Realschule to learn agriculture on his uncle's farm. However, due to a life-threatening lung illness, Hauptmann left the farm. He then entered the sculpture school at the Royal Art and Vocational School in Breslau in 1880, but he was expelled temporarily because of "poor behavior." He then left the school. He wrote his first play for his brother's wedding. His wife supported him financially as he began to study at the University of Jena, though he soon quit studying here as well. He traveled to Rome with his brother and tried to become a sculptor, but was also unsuccessful. He then studied history at the Humboldt University of Berlin and began to devote more of his time towards the theater. He and his family moved to Berlin in 1889. Hauptmann then began to write, with his first novel being Signalmann Thiel and his first play being Before Sunrise. Hauptmann was considered a representative poet of Germany later in his life, and he received many awards. During the Nazi regime, his works did not reflect Nazi ideology, but he was a member of eugenics organization the German Society for Racial Hygiene.

Hauptmann married Marie Theienemann in 1885.In 1893 Hauptmann began an affair with actress Margarete Marschalk, and in 1904 Marie divorced Hauptmann. Shortly afterward, Hauptmann and Margarete were married in 1904. Hauptmann died of bronchitis in 1946