Paul Kornfeld
Kornfeld, Paul (Prague, 1889-1942, Łódź, Poland), worked in the theatre in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Darmstadt as dramatic adviser (Dramaturg), and wrote ecstatic Expressionist plays: More clearly than many Expressionist writers, Kornfeld reveals the essential religious striving which animates the condemnation of society and the groping, searching quality of the exclamatory language. This is not contradicted by the sensational aspect of his plots, for his plays Die Verführung (1916) and Himmel und Hölle (1919) operate on two planes. He is also responsible for the important essay Der beseelte und der psychologische Mensch (1918), which explains the fundamental primacy of spirituality in his Expressionism. After the war he turned to comedies (Der ewige Traum, 1922; Palme oder Der Gekränkte, 1924; Kilian oder Die gelbe Rose, 1926). Jud Süß (1930, see Süss-Oppenheimer, J.) is his last Berlin play. His only novel, Blanche oder Das Atelier im Garten (1957) was written in Prague before his arrest in 1941. He died in the notorious concentration camp in Łódź. Paul Kornfeld. Revolution mit Flötenmusik und andere kritische Prosa appeared in 1977.
