That Gustav Landauer is remembered by many primarily for the circumstances surrounding his death in the Bavarian revolution of 1918-19 does little justice either to the richness and originality of his thought, or to the sheer multifariousness of his achievements. A committed activist and political theorist

par excellence

, Landauer was also an accomplished journalist, playwright, essayist, lecturer, theatre critic,

gérant

of the anarchist periodical

Der Sozialist

, and a prolific translator, notable for his German editions of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Walt Whitman.

Born in Karlsruhe on April 7th 1870 into a middle-class, assimilated Jewish family, Landauer excelled academically from a young age, developing a keen interest in particular in literature, theatre and the

1339 words

Citation: Horrox, James. "Gustav Landauer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 August 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13004, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13004 Gustav Landauer 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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