Anton Wildgans
Anton Wildgans was an influential Austrian poet and playwright, born in Vienna in 1881. Despite facing personal hardships, including the early death of his mother and his father's prolonged illness, Wildgans pursued an education, earning a doctorate in law from the University of Vienna in 1909. That same year, he published his first poetry collection, which marked the beginning of a successful writing career. His poetry resonated widely with the public, particularly among various social classes in Austria and Germany, despite some critical views labeling it as superficial.
Wildgans also made significant contributions to the theater, with his plays often reflecting social issues and human resilience, such as in "In Ewigkeit, amen" and "Armut." His work captured the spirit of the times and was celebrated by audiences for its emotional depth. He held the directorship of Vienna's Burgtheater at different points in his career, solidifying his position in the cultural landscape of the era. Wildgans's legacy continued after his death in 1932, with his wife preserving his letters and home as a museum, ensuring that his contributions to literature and drama are remembered.
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Anton Wildgans
Poet
- Born: April 17, 1881
- Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
- Died: May 3, 1932
- Place of death: Mödling, Austria
Biography
Anton Wildgans was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1881, the son of Friedrich and Therese Charvot Wildgans. His mother died when he was four; by 1899, his father was suffering from an undiagnosed brain tumor that resulted in his physical deterioration and, in 1906, his death. His father’s prolonged illness left the family destitute. Wildgans, who had graduated from the Piaristrengymnasium after working as an assistant editor of the Viennese newspaper Die Zeit, enrolled at the University of Vienna, where he earned a doctor of laws degree in 1909. In that year, he married Lilly Wurzel.
In 1909, he also published a volume of poems, Herbstfrüling: Verse, and following the success of that book he published an even more enthusiastically received collection, Und hättet der Liebe nicht: Ein Cyclus neuer Gedichte, in 1911. The second volume was into its eleventh printing by 1918. His success enabled Wildgans to quit his job as an investigative judge at the Superior Court of Vienna in 1912 and devote himself to writing.
Wildgans’s poetry continued to be highly successful. His fourth collection, Die Sonette an Ead, published in 1913, sold thirty-eight thousand copies by 1922, almost a decade after its initial appearance. Although some critics called his poetry shallow and superficial, school children, factory workers, and office workers throughout Austria and Germany recited it from memory.
Wildgans’s first play, In Ewigkeit, amen (pr. 1913), drawn from the author’s legal experience, focuses on the case of Anton Gschmeidler, whose recurrent legal violations result in a troubling recidivism. The play reveals that Gschmeidler commits criminal acts so he will be arrested because prison is the only home he knows. The drama reflects the ideas about society and approach to drama found in the plays of Gerhart Hauptmann and other naturalistic playwrights.
Wildgans’s second play, Armut (pb. 1914, pr. 1915), particularly delighted audiences. In this play, an impoverished family whose chief wage earner, a postal worker, has died, demonstrates that poverty and loss do not rob people of their ability to treat others with a generosity of spirit. Performances of the play were barely under way before audiences began to burst into cheers and applause, reflecting their enthusiastic approval of the sentiments Wildgans espoused. Wildgans had two more plays produced by 1918, when he began work on a trilogy based on Old and New Testament stories. He completed only the first of these plays, Kain, before accepting the directorship of Vienna’s Burgtheater in 1921. He held this demanding position until 1923. However, in 1930, beset by financial problems, he resumed the directorship of the Burgtheater and retained this job until his death in 1932. After he died, his wife, Lilly, edited his letters and preserved his home as a museum.