Carl Sternheim
Encyclopedia
Carl Sternheim was a German
playwright
and short story
writer. One of the major exponents of German Expressionism
, he especially satirized
the moral sensibilities of the emerging German middle class
during the Wilhelmine period
.
to a Jewish banker and his Protestant
wife from a working-class family, Sternheim grew up in Hannover and Berlin
. Between 1897 and 1902, he studied philosophy
, psychology
, and jurisprudence
intermittently at the Universities of Munich
, Göttingen
, and Leipzig
, but never graduated. In 1900, he began working as a freelance
writer in Weimar
, where he met and married his first wife Eugenie Hauth the same year. Their union ended in 1906 and he married the writer Thea Löwenstein (née Bauer) in 1907, with whom he had two children.
The wealth brought by Thea from her rich manufacturing family enabled the couple to build the Schloss Bellemaison in Munich
. Here, Sternheim worked in the company of fellow artists such as Mechtilde Lichnowsky
, Max Reinhardt
, and Frank Wedekind
, and assembled his own art collection. In 1908, he collaborated with Franz Blei
to launch the Expressionist literary journal Hyperion
, which published the first eight prose works by Franz Kafka
. He also contributed occasionally to the Expressionist journal Die Aktion
. In 1912, he relocated with his family to Belgium
and in 1918, they fled the fighting of World War I
and temporarily moved to St. Moritz
and Uttwil
in Switzerland
. Sternheim and Thea divorced in 1927. His next marriage, to actress and singer Pamela Wedekind, took place in 1930 and lasted until 1934, after which he lived with Henriette Carbonara. Sternheim died in Brussels
during World War II
and was buried in the Ixelles Cemetery
.
Sternheim's circle of prominent friends included Gottfried Benn
, Carl Einstein
, Franz Pfemfert
, Walther Rathenau
, Ernst Stadler
, Hugo von Tschudi
, Fritz von Unruh
, and Otto Vrieslander. In 1915, he presented the prize money for the Fontane Prize to the then largely unknown Kafka. The Nazi
authorities banned Sternheim's work not only because of his Jewish descent but also because of his savage comedic
assaults on the perceived moral corruption of the German bourgeoisie.
, but English language productions of them are rare. This is in part due to the large number of English comedies already in existence, bypassing the need for translations of German comedies. Academics have also argued that Sternheim's works are sometimes hard to sell to the market in foreign languages due to the difficulty in categorising his style as belonging to any one specific movement.
As a result, Sternheim's plays have rarely been produced in a major venue. One notable exception occurred when Simon Callow
made his West End debut in a version of Bürger Schippel
(re-titled as The Plumber's Progress) alongside Harry Secombe
in the 1970s. However, in August 2011, both Paul Schippel Esq.
(an alternative title often given to Bürger Schippel
) and The Fossil
, another of Sternheim's comedies, were performed as a double-bill at the Charing Cross Theatre, London, with Kieran E. Sims and Alex Corbet Burcher in the respective title role
s.
Once seventy years have passed since the playwright's death (in 2013), the copyright will expire and the plays will enter the public domain, which may lead to an upsurge in Sternheim's works being performed in the English language.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer. One of the major exponents of German Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, he especially satirized
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
the moral sensibilities of the emerging German middle class
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
during the Wilhelmine period
William II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...
.
Biography
Born in LeipzigLeipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
to a Jewish banker and his Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
wife from a working-class family, Sternheim grew up in Hannover and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Between 1897 and 1902, he studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
intermittently at the Universities of Munich
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , commonly known as the University of Munich or LMU, is a university in Munich, Germany...
, Göttingen
Georg-August University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen , known informally as Georgia Augusta, is a university in the city of Göttingen, Germany.Founded in 1734 by King George II of Great Britain and the Elector of Hanover, it opened for classes in 1737. The University of Göttingen soon grew in size and popularity...
, and Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, but never graduated. In 1900, he began working as a freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
writer in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, where he met and married his first wife Eugenie Hauth the same year. Their union ended in 1906 and he married the writer Thea Löwenstein (née Bauer) in 1907, with whom he had two children.
The wealth brought by Thea from her rich manufacturing family enabled the couple to build the Schloss Bellemaison in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. Here, Sternheim worked in the company of fellow artists such as Mechtilde Lichnowsky
Mechtilde Lichnowsky
Mechtilde Lichnowsky, originally Mechtilde Christiane Marie Gräfin von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, later Mechtilde Peto was a German author, married to Karl Max, Fürst von Lichnowsky, 6th Prince and 8th Count Lichnowsky who succeeded his father in 1901, and...
, Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (theatre director)
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
, and Frank Wedekind
Frank Wedekind
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind , usually known as Frank Wedekind, was a German playwright...
, and assembled his own art collection. In 1908, he collaborated with Franz Blei
Franz Blei
Franz Blei was an essayist, playwright and translator from Vienna...
to launch the Expressionist literary journal Hyperion
Hyperion (journal)
Hyperion was a bimonthly literary magazine published out of Munich by Franz Blei and Carl Sternheim. Between 1908 and 1910, twelve booklets in ten editions appeared....
, which published the first eight prose works by Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
. He also contributed occasionally to the Expressionist journal Die Aktion
Die Aktion
Die Aktion was a German literary and political magazine, edited by Franz Pfemfert and published between 1911 and 1932 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf; it promoted literary Expressionism and stood for left-wing policies...
. In 1912, he relocated with his family to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and in 1918, they fled the fighting of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and temporarily moved to St. Moritz
St. Moritz
St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...
and Uttwil
Uttwil
Uttwil is a municipality in the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-Geography:Uttwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 52.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 30.6% is forested...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Sternheim and Thea divorced in 1927. His next marriage, to actress and singer Pamela Wedekind, took place in 1930 and lasted until 1934, after which he lived with Henriette Carbonara. Sternheim died in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was buried in the Ixelles Cemetery
Ixelles Cemetery
The Ixelles Cemetery , located in Ixelles in the southern part of Brussels, is one of the major cemeteries in Belgium....
.
Sternheim's circle of prominent friends included Gottfried Benn
Gottfried Benn
Gottfried Benn was a German essayist, novelist, and expressionist poet. A doctor of medicine, he became an early admirer, and later a critic, of the National Socialist revolution...
, Carl Einstein
Carl Einstein
Carl Einstein , born Karl Einstein, was an influential German Jewish writer, art historian, and critic.Regarded as one of the first critics to appreciate the development of Cubism, as well as for his work on African art and influence on the European avant-garde, Einstein was a friend and colleague...
, Franz Pfemfert
Franz Pfemfert
Franz Pfemfert was a German journalist, editor of Die Aktion, literary critic, politician and portrait photographer. Pfemfert occasionally wrote under the pseudonym U. Gaday...
, Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau was a German Jewish industrialist, politician, writer, and statesman who served as Foreign Minister of Germany during the Weimar Republic...
, Ernst Stadler
Ernst Stadler
Ernst Stadler was a German Expressionist poet. He was born in Colmar, Alsace-Lorraine and educated in Strasbourg and Oxford; in 1906 he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Magdalen College, Oxford....
, Hugo von Tschudi
Hugo von Tschudi
Hugo von Tschudi was an art historian and museum curator, notable for being a collector of important Impressionist works. Tschudi was born in Austria and became a naturalised Swiss citizen....
, Fritz von Unruh
Fritz von Unruh
Fritz von Unruh was a German Expressionist dramatist, poet, and novelist.-Biography:...
, and Otto Vrieslander. In 1915, he presented the prize money for the Fontane Prize to the then largely unknown Kafka. The Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
authorities banned Sternheim's work not only because of his Jewish descent but also because of his savage comedic
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
assaults on the perceived moral corruption of the German bourgeoisie.
Adaptations
Sternheim's works remain popular in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but English language productions of them are rare. This is in part due to the large number of English comedies already in existence, bypassing the need for translations of German comedies. Academics have also argued that Sternheim's works are sometimes hard to sell to the market in foreign languages due to the difficulty in categorising his style as belonging to any one specific movement.
As a result, Sternheim's plays have rarely been produced in a major venue. One notable exception occurred when Simon Callow
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...
made his West End debut in a version of Bürger Schippel
Bürger Schippel
"Bürger Schippel" is a German comedy by Carl Sternheim, and part of his cycle of plays, "Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben". Some of it's characters, such as Heinrich Krey, appear in a number of Sternheim's works...
(re-titled as The Plumber's Progress) alongside Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
in the 1970s. However, in August 2011, both Paul Schippel Esq.
Bürger Schippel
"Bürger Schippel" is a German comedy by Carl Sternheim, and part of his cycle of plays, "Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben". Some of it's characters, such as Heinrich Krey, appear in a number of Sternheim's works...
(an alternative title often given to Bürger Schippel
Bürger Schippel
"Bürger Schippel" is a German comedy by Carl Sternheim, and part of his cycle of plays, "Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben". Some of it's characters, such as Heinrich Krey, appear in a number of Sternheim's works...
) and The Fossil
The Fossil (play)
"Das Fossil" is a German comedy by Carl Sternheim, and is included as the fourth part of his play cycle, "Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben"...
, another of Sternheim's comedies, were performed as a double-bill at the Charing Cross Theatre, London, with Kieran E. Sims and Alex Corbet Burcher in the respective title role
Title role
The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role....
s.
Once seventy years have passed since the playwright's death (in 2013), the copyright will expire and the plays will enter the public domain, which may lead to an upsurge in Sternheim's works being performed in the English language.