Naturalismus
Naturalismus denotes a form of exact and detailed realism which developed in Europe in the late 19th c. Its special characteristic is its claim to be scientifically based, and it is in part the outcome of developments in 19th-c. science, especially in the fields of heredity and evolution. Naturalism began in France in the fiction of the brothers Goncourt and of Zola c.1860-70, in Russia with Tolstoy, and in Scandinavia with Ibsen and Bjørnson. In Germany theoretical tracts and periodicals advocating Naturalism appeared from about 1885. German Naturalism reached a climax in the early 1890s and thereafter gradually declined, though its influence remained appreciable for many years.
The first signs of the movement in Germany are seen in Berlin with the publication of Kritische Waffengänge (1882-4) by the brothers H. and J. Hart, and in Munich with the periodical Die Gesellschaft edited by M. G. Conrad. Further symptoms of its progress are two theoretical tracts, Revolution der Literatur (1886) by K. Bleibtreu, and Die naturwissenschaftlichen Grundlagen der Poesie (1887) by W. Bölsche. Das Buch der Zeit (1885) by A. Holz contains the beginnings of proletarian poetry more in its choice of subjects than in its manner. With Die Kunst. Ihr Wesen und ihre Gesetze (1890-2), Holz produced the principal theoretical tract, which includes the lapidary formulation ‘Kunst = Natur - x’, amplified at the end of the essay in the following: ‘Die Kunst hat die Tendenz, wieder die Natur zu sein. Sie wird sie nach Maßgabe ihrer jedweiligen Reproduktionsbedingungen und deren Handhabung.’ This sentence was simplified by Holz in 1899: ‘Die Kunst hat die Tendenz, die Natur zu sein; sie wird sie nach Maßgabe ihrer Mittel und deren Handhabung.’ G. Hauptmann's Bahnwärter Thiel (1888) achieved Naturalistic representation, though poetic elements are also perceptible. The social plays of Ibsen were a powerful influence on the German avant-garde in the 1880s, especially Ghosts, because it treated a subject (syphilis) which was taboo, and laid great emphasis on heredity.
Naturalism received a new impetus from the visit to Berlin of the Théâtre libre in 1887, and its increased momentum is seen in the founding of the Verein Freie Bühne and its first two productions in 1889, single performances of Ghosts (Gespenster, September) and G. Hauptmann's Vor Sonnenaufgang (October). The title of the last work was in itself a slogan. Papa Hamlet by Holz and J. Schlaf, published in 1889 under the pseudonym Bjarne P. Holmsen, developed a technique of minute realism midway between narrative and drama. This innovation became known as ‘Sekundenstil’. By 1892 Naturalism was accepted in the commercial theatre, and, having become respectable, began within a few years to lose its revolutionary impetus. Die Familie Selicke (1890) by Holz and Schlaf and Die Weber (1892) by G. Hauptmann are notable works from the heyday of the movement. Commercialization set in early, especially in the theatre, with the skilfully tailored plays of H. Sudermann, Die Ehre (1890) and Heimat (1893). The principal novelist of thoroughgoing Naturalism was M. Kretzer, though most novels in the first half of the 20th c. show some influence of the trend. The limitations of Naturalism soon became apparent, and as early as 1891 H. Bahr published his essay Die Überwindung des Naturalismus. Naturalism may be considered to be the dominating influence only up to about 1898.
Other writers who are notable for Naturalistic writing in at least a phase of their career are F. Adamus, Helene Böhlau, M. Halbe, O. E. Hartleben, G. Hirschfeld, W. von Polenz, and Clara Viebig.
