Otto Ludwig

• Born: February 12, 1813
• Birthplace: Eisfeld an der Werra, Thuringia (now in Germany)
• Died: February 25, 1865
• Place of death: Dresden, Germany

Other Literary Forms

It was as a writer of fiction that Otto Ludwig achieved distinction as one of the foremost writers in nineteenth century German literature. He began by writing a series of stories on small-town life in Thuringia; with a graphic visual sense, he depicts social reality in his village tales. In 1856, he published an outstanding work, the novel Zwischen Himmel und Erde (Between Heaven and Earth, 1911), which was widely acclaimed as his best. In general, Ludwig’s fiction is characterized by careful psychological analysis and attention to detail, showing at times even a cumbersome meticulousness. In addition to prose, Ludwig wrote some poetry, but his contribution was negligible.

Ludwig’s major critical work is a collection entitled Shakespeare Studien (1871; Shakespearean studies). In addition to an analysis of William Shakespeare’s technique, there are valuable reflections on many of the fundamental questions of poetry, especially of the drama, and they confirm Ludwig as a discriminating critic. Other critical writings are collected in Dramaturgische Aphorismen (1891; dramatic aphorisms). As a representative of poetischer Realismus (poetic realism), a term that he seems to have coined, Ludwig defines künstlerischer Realismus (stylized realism) as a balance between subjectively idealistic and objectively naturalistic art. Perhaps he admired Shakespeare so much precisely because he saw in Shakespeare’s art the supreme embodiment of this principle.

Achievements

Although Otto Ludwig’s dramatic works are very uneven, he was one of the significant figures in nineteenth century German drama. According to Ludwig, modern drama must serve the common needs of the people. He regarded the theater as a place where people go to seek release from the burdens of life. His heroes, therefore, are often village people, his settings, frequently local. Within this framework, he continually emphasized the value of literature that was regional in inspiration. His reputation as one of Germany’s outstanding representatives of regionalist literature seems secure. In his critical writings and choice of projects, Ludwig was dependent to an excessive degree on other examples, such as on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story “Das Fräulein von Scuderi” (“Mademoiselle de Scudéri”), on which he based one of his early comedies by the same name, or, the drama Der Engel von Augsburg, Agnes Bernauerin (the angel from Augsburg, Agnes Bernauerin), believed to be based on Friedrich Hebbel’s theme of Agnes Bernauer. Ludwig is, nevertheless, accorded the praise due him as one of those dramatists who replaced with a greater variety of elementary human passions that rich, superficial life, which, through Friedrich Schiller’s influence, had prevailed on the German stage. Ludwig attempted a faithful representation of reality. He demanded subjects suited to the times and wanted to reconcile art and life. Proceeding from a regional base, he showed that literature within a local framework need not be provincial.

Biography

Otto Ludwig, German dramatist, novelist, musician, and critic, was born into a patrician family at Eisfeld in Thuringia (now East Germany). His father, a middle-class city official, died when Otto was still a child. After his father’s death, Ludwig attended the Gymnasium in Hildburghausen, but his mother withdrew him before he completed the course in 1828. Exposed early in life to music and poetry by his artistic mother, Ludwig continued his musical studies in his leisure time until economic considerations forced him to work for several years in the shop of his merchant uncle. After his mother died, Ludwig entered the Lyzeum in Saalfeld with the intention of completing his preparatory studies. Poor health, however, compelled him to abandon formal study at the school. Privately he continued his musical studies.

Although he was expected to follow a mercantile career, Ludwig preferred the arts and devoted the years from 1834 to 1838 to the study of music. Some of his operatic compositions were produced locally with great success. In 1837, Die Geschwister (the sisters), a Liederspiel (musical play), and in 1838, an opera, Die Köhlerin (the charcoal burner), attracted attention to him in musical circles in Meiningen, the nearby ducal residence. He was granted a stipend by the duke, which made it possible for him to study under Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig in 1839. There, however, he became almost exclusively absorbed in literary plans, contemplating stories and dramas. Adverse criticism from Mendelssohn, poor health, and shyness finally led him to forsake his musical career, and he returned home, spending the years from 1840 to 1842 in Eisfeld. Hometown people regarded him as a failure. In 1842, he decided to return to Leipzig to devote himself to a literary career. He continued writing stories and dramas and made the acquaintance of Heinrich Laube and other literary celebrities. Later, he moved to Dresden, where he worked assiduously on a number of dramatic and novelistic ventures. Die Makkabäer (the Maccabees), a tragedy in blank verse, was completed in Dresden. After a brief stay, he retired to Meissen, where he lived, insular and somewhat privileged.

In 1850, The Hereditary Forester, a tragedy in five acts, made Ludwig famous. He emerged for a time from obscurity, formed more friendships, and, in 1852, he was married. In the late 1850’s, he published his best works: Die Heiterethei and Between Heaven and Earth merit special praise. These years were the zenith of Ludwig’s career, the height of his productivity as an artist and of his success and happiness as a man.

Ultimately, his inclination to measure modern drama by Shakespearean standards and his preoccupation with literary theory restrained his success as a creative writer. Excessive reflection caused him repeatedly to destroy what he had written. It is known that he made innumerable dramatic plans, some only sketched, others carried to various degrees of completion. Paralyzed by his own high standards, he was able to complete very little. Ludwig died in Dresden on February 25, 1865.

Analysis

The name of Otto Ludwig evokes rich and varied images of a man considered by many to be one of the first modern realists in Germany. He has been more properly described, however, as a realist-idealist. Belonging to a period of transition from romanticism to realism, he tried to find the harmonious ideal of human existence. Despite his growing disillusionment, his work was never completely detached from this foundation.

The Hereditary Forester

The Hereditary Forester made Otto Ludwig known and is by far his most frequently played drama. This domestic tragedy (bürgerliches Trauerspiel) was completed in 1850 with encouragement and suggestions from Eduard Devrient, manager of the Court Theatre in Dresden. It was produced the same year by Devrient, who played the title role. Although the play was at once proclaimed as a literary and theatrical event of great significance, only the first two acts were enthusiastically received; the audience seemed to be perplexed by the remainder of the drama. It was twice repeated before an empty house and not given in Dresden again until 1862. Some critics defended, more condemned, the tragedy. Laube produced it in Vienna in 1850, but in spite of a friendly reception, it was soon abandoned. It had considerable success in Weimar, and then various other stages. Ludwig intended the play to be “a declaration of war against unnaturalness and conventionalities of our latter-day stage literature.” With true-to-life characters, unpretentiousness in language and gesture, and a carefully drawn milieu, he sought to capture a segment of middle-class life in Thuringia.

The protagonist, Christian Ulrich, is the hereditary forester of a large estate. For generations, his family has served the landed aristocracy well. Like his father and grandfather before him, he, too, associates his work with deep-rooted emotional values. His labor is a duty imposed on him by tradition and entails obligations toward his heritage. His services have no mercantile value, for they are an extension of personality rather than a product that could be purchased with money.

After the estate has been purchased by his old friend Stein, Ulrich continues to exercise his “authority” as a “hereditary duty.” Oblivious to the changes in ownership and the changes in the social order that have accompanied the beginning of urbanization, he repeatedly refuses to obey the new owner’s directive to thin out the forest. Consequently, their long-standing friendship suffers. Although Stein persists in his efforts to persuade Ulrich to change his mind and save the friendship, the forester ignores all wishes and demands. Even threats of dismissal fail to convince him to oblige. He stubbornly believes that he cannot lose a position to which he has a hereditary right. Ultimately, abstract principles assume a greater importance than his own life. He dissociates himself psychologically, socially, and economically from the established order and adheres to the most rigorous and least sympathetic moral prescriptions of the Old Testament, thereby sacrificing his position and his happiness, as well as the happiness of his family.

A series of unfortunate incidents and schemes for revenge result in his accidentally shooting his own daughter, who was soon to be married to Stein’s son. When he realizes his horrible mistake, he takes his own life.

Critics have noted several flaws in the construction of Ludwig’s drama: The action depends too heavily on chance; moreover, Ludwig fails to connect the family tragedy with the broad movement of contemporary public life and the times. Although the revolutionary unrest of 1848 is in the background, he does not connect it in any way with the family tragedy. He offers, however, a vision of a changing world. He portrays a man who ignores at his peril important changes, a man with moral principles who fails to realize that his emotional values have been replaced by rational values such as adaptability, proficiency, and shrewdness, and that superficiality is a tendency of the times. This change of attitude even invades his private sphere, so that human relations deteriorate into alliances of convenience. Unable to reject his idealistic views, he loses his dignity as a man and becomes an object of calculation, a victim of circumstance. Ludwig shows the despair of a man who knows that the modern trend toward technical civilization has made him vulnerable because it has deprived him of his physical and spiritual stability.

Die Makkabäer

The Hereditary Forester was followed by Die Makkabäer, which, though not attaining the popularity of The Hereditary Forester, contributed significantly to Ludwig’s fame. The only other drama in addition to The Hereditary Forester performed on the stage during his lifetime, it is rarely, if ever, staged today. In this verse play, Ludwig transferred the realistic details of his Thuringian drama to a historical milieu: the revolt of the Maccabees in the first century b.c.e. against their Syrian oppressors.

The play is based on the Apocryphal book of the Maccabees. Under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus, the son of a priest, Mattathias, and his wife, Leah, the Jews won victory over the Seleucid king Antiochus IV (called Epiphanes). Ludwig contrasts the Syrians and Jews in this drama. The Simonites are portrayed as opportunists without any deep religious feelings or national convictions. The Maccabees are people with spiritual aims who passionately fight and suffer for their ideals. Idealism is exemplified in Leah, who desires for one of her seven sons, Eleazer, the throne of Israel. Misguided by motherly devotion and excessive pride, she unwittingly becomes an accomplice in the martyrdom of her own sons. As prisoners of King Antiochus, they are ordered to become pagans or to die. When they refuse, they lose their lives. The sight of their martyrdom demoralizes Antiochus’s army, and a victory is won.

Certain faults of construction are evident in this drama. In terms of psychological motivation, the victory of the Jews over the Simonites is not convincing, for it is only passive heroism that contributes to their defeat. In addition, the drama lacks unity of interest, in part because of the long process of development that the play underwent before completion. Nevertheless, there is the same attention to detail, convincing character portrayal, and in-depth psychological analysis that characterize Ludwig’s prose.

Bibliography

Thomas, Lionel. Otto Ludwig’s “Zwischen Himmel und Erde.” Leeds, England: W. S. Maney, 1975. Although this work focuses on Ludwig’s novel Between Heaven and Earth, it sheds light on his dramatic work and life.

Turner, David. Roles and Relationships in Otto Ludwig’s Narrative Fiction. Hull, England: University of Hull, 1975. An examination of Ludwig’s prose that also provides insights into his plays.