Hanns Heinz Ewers
Hanns Heinz Ewers was a multifaceted German writer, filmmaker, and performer, born on November 3, 1871, in Düsseldorf. Initially studying law, he shifted to a career in writing, cabaret, and drama, even touring Central and Eastern Europe with his acting troupe. Ewers gained recognition as one of Germany's early filmmakers and was a significant figure in the literary and cultural scenes of his time. His writing was heavily influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, leading him to produce satirical poetry and novels that explored dark and fantastical themes. Notably, he authored a trilogy centered around a character named Frank Braun, delving into topics such as fanaticism and the macabre.
Ewers's life was marked by his complex political affiliations; he became involved with the Nazi movement and was reportedly favored by Adolf Hitler, although his controversial interests eventually led to a publication ban. His most famous works include "Alraune," which echoes Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein," and the celebrated short story "Die Spinne" ("The Spider"). Ewers's contributions to literature persisted in influence, with "The Spider" continuing to appear in anthologies. He passed away on June 12, 1943, from tuberculosis in Berlin, leaving behind a legacy that reflects both the creativity and tumult of his era.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Hanns Heinz Ewers
Playwright
- Born: November 3, 1871
- Birthplace: Düsseldorf, Germany
- Died: June 12, 1943
- Place of death: Berlin, Germany
Biography
Hanns Heinz Ewers was born on November 3, 1871, in Düsseldorf, Germany, the son of well-to-do portrait painter Heinz Ewers and writer and translator Maria Ewers. He studied to be a lawyer, but turned instead to writing, cabaret, and drama. He toured Central and Eastern Europe for a time with his own troupe of actors and became one of Germany’s first filmmakers.
A wide-ranging traveler, Ewers was working as a lobbyist (and apparently as a spy) in the United States at the onset of World War I in 1914. He was eventually interned for his pro-German activities in 1918 and released only after the war. Ewers married painter Lina Wunderwald on May 15, 1901, but the two divorced on April 19, 1912; he went on to marry American singer Josephine Bumiller on October 15, 1921.
Ewers’s first book, written with Theodor Etzel, was a collection of satirical poetry, Ein Fabelbuch. Ewers admired Edgar Allan Poe, analyzing the American horror writer in an extended essay printed in 1905 and writing a number of stories and novels reflecting Poe’s influence. He also translated the works of several French writers, among them Philippe-August Villiers de L’Isle Adam, whose cruel and bitter stories provided further inspiration.
Later in life, Ewers was drawn to the violent and mystical Nazi movement in Germany, and he was said to be the favorite writer of German dictator Adolf Hitler. Ewers even wrote a biography of Nazi hero Horst Wessel and prepared a screenplay based on his life. However, Ewers’s obsessive interests in Satanism and homoeroticism eventually proved too controversial for German authorities, and he was banned from publishing. He died of tuberculosis on June 12, 1943, in Berlin, Germany.
Ewers’s most ambitious novels were a loosely connected trilogy following the bizarre experiences of Frank Braun, a fantastic version of Ewers himself. Der Zauberlehring (1907; The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, 1927) is a study in religious and sexual fanaticism in an Italian village. Alraune (1911; Alraune, 1929), the most famous volume of the series, recalls Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) by Mary Shelley and The Great God Pan (1894) by Arthur Machen. In Ewers’s version of the story, Braun oversees the creation of a malign creature by impregnating a prostitute with the semen of a hanged murderer. The final novel, Vampir (1921; Vampire, 1934), goes on to recast in more extreme form the materials that British novelist Bram Stoker had dramatized in his famous novel Dracula (1897). Ewers’s most famous story, “Die Spinne,” appeared in a 1908 collection and recounts a student’s degeneration under the mesmerizing influence of a mysterious, black-clad femme fatale whom he watches from his apartment window. The story was translated into English as “The Spider.”
Although the extreme subject matter of Ewers’s Frank Braun trilogy assured them a certain contemporary notoriety, their self-conscious decadence dated them for later readers. However, “The Spider” was reprinted in several anthologies of weird fiction over the years, and the 1913 motion picture Der Student von Prag (The Student of Prague), for which Ewers wrote the screenplay, is regarded as a classic of early German cinema.