Carl Zuckmayer

Hans Wagener (University of California, Los Angeles)
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The playwright, novelist and essayist Carl Zuckmayer became first active during the time of German Expressionism. With the publication of

Der fröhliche Weinberg

[

The Merry Vineyard

, 1925] he was instrumental in bringing Expressionism to an end. Thus he was one of the initiators of the drama of New Objectivity. He was one of the most popular playwrights of the Weimar Republic and, next to Bertolt Brecht, the most widely performed dramatist in West Germany in the first years after World War II.

Carl Zuckmayer was born on 27 December 1896 in the wine producing small town of Nackenheim close to the River Rhine. His father owned a factory that made caps for wine bottles in nearby Mainz. His grandfather on his mother’s side was Jewish, but he had converted to Catholicism, a religion that

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Citation: Wagener, Hans. "Carl Zuckmayer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12191, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12191 Carl Zuckmayer 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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