Josef Lauff (16 November 1855 - 1933) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. He was born at

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, the son of a jurist. He was educated at

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

, and entering the army served as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

Thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

and subsequently at Cologne, where he attained the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1890. In 1898 he was summoned by the German emperor, William II, to

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, being at the same time promoted to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

's rank, in order that he might devote his great dramatic talents to the royal theatre. His literary career began with the epic poems ''Jan van Calker, ein Malerlied vom Niederrhein'' (1887, 3rd ed., 1892) and ''Der Helfensteiner, ein Sang aus dem Bauernkriege'' (3rd ed., 1896). These were followed by ''Die Overstolzin'' (5th ed., 1900), ''Herodias'' (2nd ed., 1898) and ''Die Geißlerin'' (4th ed., 1902). He also wrote the novels ''Die Hexe'' (6th ed., 1900), ''Regina coeli'' (a story of the fall of the Dutch Republic) (7th ed., 1904), ''Die Hauptmannsfrau'' (8th ed., 1903) and ''Marie Verwahnen'' (1903). But he is best known as a dramatist. Beginning with the tragedy ''Inez de Castro'' (1894), he proceeded to dramatize the great monarchs of his country, and, in a

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...

tetralogy, issued ''Der Burggraf'' (1897, 6th ed. 1900) and ''Der Eisenzahn'' (1900), to be followed by ''Der grosse Kurfurst'' (The Great Elector) and ''Friedrich der Große'' (Frederick the Great). See A. Schroeter, ''Josef Lauff, Em litterarisches Zeitbild'' (1899), and B. Sturm, ''Josef Lauff'' (1903).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauff, Josef 1855 births 1933 deaths German poets People from the Rhine Province Writers from Cologne German male poets German male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights