Gerhart Hauptmann

Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946) was a German dramatist and writer, born on 15 November 1862 in the spa town of Bad Obersalzbrunn. He studied agriculture, then sculpture in Breslau, and spent time in Jena, Rome and Berlin before deciding on literature. His play Vor Sonnenaufgang (Before Dawn) caused a scandal in 1889 and is regarded as the start of naturalistic drama in Germany, which made him one of the founders of German Naturalism. His best known plays include Die Weber (The Weavers, 1892), the comedy Der Biberpelz (The Beaver Coat, 1893), Fuhrmann Henschel and Die Ratten. He also wrote symbolic works such as Hanneles Himmelfahrt and Die versunkene Glocke, later plays that reworked classical and medieval material, and the novel Der Ketzer von Soana. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.