From Expressionism to Exile

The first general study in English on the German Expressionist writer Walter Hasenclever (1890-1940). Hasenclever was a major figure in the Expressionist literary movement, best known for the groundbreaking expressionist drama DER SOHN (1914) and for his 1917 anti-war play ANTIGONE. His work in film in Germany and in Hollywood, in journalism as a Paris correspondent in the mid 1920s, and his successful transition to comedies in the late 1920s illustrate his versatility as a writer. Hasenclever was a key figure in the literary life of the Weimar Republic. Critical of the Nazis in his plays and articles, he was denounced and his works were burned upon the Nazi seizure of power. Thereafter he lived in exile in Italy, England, and France, writing plays and two autobiographical novels. He committed suicide in French internment at the time of the German invasion in 1940.