Editing Hermann Sudermann (section)

== Life ==

=== Early career ===
Sudermann was born at Matzicken, a village to the east of Heydekrug in the [[Province of Prussia]] (now [[Macikai]], in southwestern [[Lithuania]]), close to the Russian frontier. The Sudermanns were a [[Mennonite]] family from the [[Vistula delta Mennonites|Vistula delta Mennonite]] communities near the former Elbing, East Prussia, (now [[Elbląg]], Poland).

His father owned a small brewery in Heydekrug, and Sudermann received his early education at the ''[[Realschule]]'' in [[Elbing]], where he lived with his relatives and attended the Mennonite church where his uncle was the minister.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hermann Sudermann, Mennonite Playwright|author=Lauren Friesen|publisher=Center for Mennonite Writing Journal|url=https://mennonitewriting.org/journal/3/4/hermann-sudermann-mennonite-playwright-and-novelis/?fbclid=IwAR3Ke5JoqYRLG6Z1_6kHynllW-Pmk0tr8BHZl-xkMUjslVQBLGfKYTJwEHo#page2|accessdate=April 14, 2021}}</ref> His parents having been reduced in circumstances, he was apprenticed to a [[chemist]] at the age of 14. He was, however, able to enter the ''[[Realgymnasium]]'' (high school) in [[Tilsit]], and to study philosophy and history at Königsberg University.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Sudermann, Hermann|volume=26|page=20}}</ref>

In order to complete his studies Sudermann went to Berlin, where he was tutor to several families, including the family of the author Hans Hopfen (1835–1904). Next he became a journalist, and was in 1881 and 1882 the co-editor of the ''Deutsches Reichsblatt''. He then devoted himself to fiction, beginning with a collection of naturalistic short stories called ''Im Zwielicht'' ("At Twilight", 1886), and the novels ''[[Frau Sorge]]'' ("Dame Care", 1887), ''Geschwister'' ("Siblings", 1888) and ''Der Katzensteg'' ("Cats' Bridge", 1890). These works failed to bring the young author as much recognition as his first drama, ''[[Honour (Sudermann play)|Die Ehre]]'' ("Honour", 1889), which inaugurated a new period in the history of the German stage.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Robertson1902">{{cite book|author=Robertson, John George|author-link=John George Robertson|title=A History of German Literature|page=616|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdVbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA616|year=1902|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons}}</ref> This play, originally intended to be a tragedy, but on Blumenthal's advice given a "happy ending," was a pseudo-[[Nietzsche]]an attack on the morality of the lowly.

He married the novelist Clara Lauckner (1861–1924), née Schulz on 20 October 1891 and lived with his family in Berlin-[[Wannsee]]. She was a widow and already had three children from her previous short-lived marriage, and she then had one child with Sudermann: a daughter, Hede. They lived in Königsberg for the next two years, before moving to Dresden and then Berlin in 1895.

=== Fame ===
He had a large following in Japan. During the 20th century, his plays were the basis of more than 30 films.

''[[Heimat (play)|Heimat]]'' (1893), another successful drama, was translated into English as ''Magda'' (1896). In this play, Sudermann emphasizes the right of the artist to a freer moral life than that of the [[petty bourgeoisie]]. It has some of the moralistic and didactic tendency of the later French dramatists, especially the [[Dumas fils|younger Dumas]], and all of their technical finesse. Productions featured some of the best known actresses of the time, including [[Helena Modjeska]], [[Sarah Bernhardt]], [[Eleonora Duse]], and [[Mrs Patrick Campbell]].

In 1894 Sudermann returned to novels with ''[[The Undying Past|Es War]]'' (the title referring to Section 2, §1 of [[Nietzsche]]'s ''[[Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen]]''), a protest against the fruitlessness of brooding repentance. In 1902, he moved to a mansion with extensive grounds at [[Blankensee (Trebbin)|Blankensee]], and used his new-found wealth to collect paintings and sculpture, and to take trips to Italy, Greece, Egypt and India.
[[File:Portrait of Hermann Sudermann.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Sudermann ]]
At the commencement of World War I, Sudermann was enthusiastic, publishing a ''Kaiserlied'' ("Song of the Kaiser"). In autumn 1917, he organised the ''Frohe Abende'' ("Cheery Evenings"), a program promoting artistic endeavors among the common people, for which he received an [[Iron Cross]] Second Class on 5 April 1918. After the end of the war, he helped found the ''Bund schaffender Künstler'' ("Society of Creative Artists"), which posed as a centrist political force and which earned him the reputation of an opportunist.

The most important of his later works are ''[[The Excursion to Tilsit|Litauische Geschichten]]'' ("Lithuanian Stories", 1917, translated as ''The Excursion to Tilsit''), a realistic portrait of his homeland, and a volume of memoirs in 1922. His last major work, written after the death of his wife in 1924, was ''Die Frau des Steffen Tromholt'' ("The Wife of Steffen Tromholt", 1927), a semi-autobiographical novel, which turned into a movie in 1929 titled ''[[Wonder of Women]]''. He had a stroke in 1928, and died of a lung infection shortly afterwards, in Berlin, aged 71. His stepson Rolf Lauckner set up the Hermann Sudermann Foundation to support young dramatists.

=== Posthumous reputation ===
Sudermann's nationalism, and his delight in romanticized ideas of ethnicity and homeland, particularly noticeable in his later works, made him a favorite during World War II. Jürgen Fehling staged ''[[Fires of St. John|Johannisfeuer]]'' in Berlin, with Maria Gorvin, Maria Koppenhöfer and Paul Wegener in the lead roles. The film ''[[Die Reise nach Tilsit]]'' was based on his short story of the same title.<ref name="romani86">Cinzia Romani, ''Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich'' p. 86 {{ISBN|0-9627613-1-1}}</ref>

After 1945, his plays and novels were almost completely forgotten. He mainly is remembered today for his Lithuanian stories, for his autobiography, and for the 1927 silent films ''[[Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans]]'', based on his short story ''Die Reise nach Tilsit'' ("The Excursion to Tilsit"), from the Collection ''Litauische Geschichten'' (''Lithuanian Stories''), ''[[The Song of Songs (1933 film)|The Song of Songs]]'', starring [[Marlene Dietrich]], based on his novel ''[[The Song of Songs (novel)|Das Hohe Lied]]'' and ''[[Flesh and the Devil]]'', starring [[Greta Garbo]], based on his novel ''The Undying Past''.