German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects.
Karl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. His literary achievements, though few in number, are generally held in great esteem in Germany and it is widely believed that, had it not been for his early death, he might have joined such central German literary figures as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller at the summit of their profession.
Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century.
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a Baltic German writer of the Sturm und Drang movement.
Heinrich Laube, German dramatist, novelist and theatre-director, was born at Sprottau in Prussian Silesia.
Wilhelm Genazino was a German journalist and author. He worked first as a journalist for the satirical magazine pardon and for Lesezeichen. From the early 1970s, he was a freelance writer who became known by a trilogy of novels, Abschaffel-Trilogie, completed in 1979. It was followed by more novels and two plays. Among his many awards is the prestigious Georg Büchner Prize.
Danton's Death was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution.
Annemarie Minna Renée Schwarzenbach was a Swiss writer, journalist and photographer. Her bisexual mother brought her up in a masculine style, and her androgynous image suited the bohemian Berlin society of the time, in which she indulged enthusiastically. Her anti-fascist campaigning forced her into exile, where she became close to the family of novelist Thomas Mann. She would live much of her life abroad as a photo-journalist, embarking on many lesbian relationships, and experiencing a growing morphine addiction. In America, the young Carson McCullers was infatuated with Schwarzenbach, to whom she dedicated Reflections in a Golden Eye. Schwarzenbach reported on the early events of World War II, but died of a head injury, following a fall.
Max Herbert Eulenberg (1876–1949), was a German poet and author born in Cologne-Mülheim, Germany. He was married from 1904 to Hedda Eulenberg.
Christian Ludolf Wienbarg was a German journalist and literary critic, one of the founders of the Young Germany movement during the Vormärz period.
Rosa Ludmilla Assing was a German writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Achim Lothar and Talora.
Petra Hartmann is a German novelist, journalist and author.
Reinhard Jirgl is a German writer.
lichtung is a poem of Austrian author Ernst Jandl, which combines deliberations about the directions left and right with a change of the letters l and r, so resulting in "lechts und rinks" instead of "rechts und links". It was published in Jandl's first volume of poems, Laut and Luise, in 1966 and, while it consists of just one stanza, it is among the most cited of Jandl's poetry.
Hartmut Steinecke was a German literary critic and university lecturer.
Ursula Püschel was a German literary critic, journalist and writer. One focus of her activities was the work of the writer Bettina von Arnim, a representative of the Vormärz-Literatur.
Events from the year 1835 in Germany
Herybert Menzel was a German poet and writer during the time of National Socialism as well as a member of the Bamberg poet circle.
Carl Herloßsohn or Karl Herloßsohn was a German author, journalist and encyclopaedist.
Louise Charlotte Märten, pseudonyms: Luzifer, Raa Bonares, Allan Loeben; was a German writer, art critic, socialist theorist and women's rights activist.
