Ernst Toller

Rhys W. Williams (Swansea University)
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An innovative playwright and poet, a socialist revolutionary and politician, a government member in the ill-fated 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic (

Räterepublik

), a political prisoner and an exiled German Jew, Ernst Toller's own biography – with the exception of its tragic ending – almost reads like fiction. Toller's life was, indeed, later fictionalized in the eponymous play published by Tankred Dorst (1925-) in 1968. In several of its stations and facets, however, Toller's life is also representative for the experiences shared by many of his contemporaries: a generation of writers and intellectuals traumatized by war, persecuted and ultimately expatriated by the National Socialists. Today Toller remains best known for his plays. His works have found their way into the canon of…

1403 words

Citation: Williams, Rhys W.. "Ernst Toller". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 September 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5463, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5463 Ernst Toller 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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