![Hermann Bahr 1904 by Emil Orlik](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Hermann_Bahr_1904_by_Emil_Orlik.jpeg)
Hermann Anastas Bahr (; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
, playwright, director, and critic.
Biography
Born and raised in
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
,
Bahr studied in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
,
Czernowitz
Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the up ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, devoting special attention to
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
,
political economy
Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
,
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
and
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
. During a prolonged stay in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, he discovered his interest in literature and art. He began working as an art critic, first in Berlin, then in Vienna. In 1890 he became associate editor of ''Berliner Freie Bühne'' (''Berlin Free Stage''), and later became associate editor and critic of the ''Deutsche Zeitung'' (''German Newspaper''). In 1894 he began publication of ''Die Zeit'' (''The Times''), and was also editor of the ''Neue Wiener Tagblatt'' (''New Vienna Daily Flyer'') and the ''Oesterreichische Volkszeitung'' (''Austrian Popular Newspaper'').
![Hermann Bahr 1891](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Hermann_Bahr_1891.jpg)
In 1906–07, Bahr worked with
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most pro ...
as a director at the German Theater (german: Deutsches Theater) in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, and starting in 1918 he was a
Dramaturg
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...
with the Vienna
Burgtheater.
Spokesman for the literary group
Young Vienna
Young may refer to:
* Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents
* Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood
Music
* The Young, an American roc ...
, Bahr was an active member of the Austrian avant-garde, producing both criticism and
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
plays. Bahr's association with the coffeehouse literati made him one of the main targets of
Karl Kraus's satirical journal ''
Die Fackel
Karl Kraus (28 April 1874 – 12 June 1936) was an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He directed his satire at the press, German culture, and German and Austrian politics. He was nominat ...
'' (''The Torch'') after Kraus's falling out with the group.
Bahr was the first critic to apply the label
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
to literary works, and was an early observer of
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
. His theoretical papers were important in the definition of new literary categories. His 40 plays and around 10 novels never reached the quality of his theoretical work. He died, aged 70, in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
.
Selected fiction
Plays
* ''The New People'' (''Die neuen Menschen'' – 1887)
* ''The Mother'' (''Die Mutter'' – 1891)
*''Das Tschaperl'' (1897)
*''Der Star'' (1899)
*''Wienerinnen'' (1900)
*''Der Krampus'' (1902)
*''Ringelspiel'' (1907)
*''
The Concert'' (''Das Konzert'' – 1909)
*''The Children'' (''Die Kinder'' – 1911)
*''Das Prinzip'' (1912)
*''Der Querulant'' (1914)
*''The Master'' (''Der Meister'' – 1904)
Short stories and novellas
*''The School of Love'' (''Die gute Schule. Seelenstände'' – 1890)
*''Fin de siècle'' (1891)
*''Die Rahl'' (1908)
*''O Mensch'' (1910)
*''Österreich in Ewigkeit'' (1929)
Selected nonfiction
Essays
*''Zur Kritik der Moderne'' (1890)
*''Die Überwindung des Naturalismus'' (1891)
*''Symbolisten'' (1894)
*''Wiener Theater'' (1899)
*''Frauenrecht'' (1912
eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria full text)*''Inventur'' (1912)
*''Expressionismus'' (1916)
*''Burgtheater'' (1920)
Books
*''Theater'' (1897)
*''Drut'' (1909)
*''Himmelfahrt'' (1916)
*''Die Rotte Korahs'' (1919)
*''Self-Portrait'' (''Selbstbildnis'' – 1923), an autobiography
References
External links
Hermann Bahr on the eLibrary Austria Project (Information and eLib Austria full txts)Bibliography of his books as well as (English) translations, articles to download and literatureResearch group at the Leuphana University Lüneburg currently assembling and publishing Bahr's critical writings, essays, and articles*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr, Hermann
1863 births
1934 deaths
Writers from Linz
19th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights
Austrian male dramatists and playwrights
Young Vienna