Along with Bertolt Brecht and Gerhart Hauptmann, Carl Zuckmayer was one of the most popular and significant German dramatists of the twentieth century. His play Der fröhliche Weinberg (The Happy Vineyard, 1925) is given credit for the death of...

Until 1966, when his autobiography Als wär's ein Stück von mir: Horen der Freundschaft (translated as A Part of Myself, 1970) appeared, Carl Zuckmayer was known mainly as the author of highly successful plays. He had been one of the most...

Carl Zuckmayer is one of the most famous names in modern German literature, yet also, as the subtitle intimates, one which excites controversy and ambivalent appreciation. His life, work and outlook are shot through with tensions and apparent contradictions. Half-Jewish, half-German, he spent...

The challenge the Volksbuhne in Berlin faced in 1996 was to offer a new, pertinent view of Carl Zuckmayer's classic, Des Teufels General. Criticizing National Socialism for its abuse of Germany's name and German ideals, this staple of German postwar drama focuses on the...

Zuckmayer belongs among the relatively few humorists Germany has produced. He has a depth of warmly reflective perception that never fails to hit the target. His generally well-constructed plays produce theatrical effects that ultimately silence many a critical objection. His talent as a storyteller, developed by study of the best traditions, impressively reveals an open, realistic, and humane commitment to the world. Strong imagery abounds in his poetry and epic descriptions of nature. The sources from whi...

Both Brecht's direct influence and the general vogue of anarchy and lawlessness—which were associated with America—were the potent ingredients which left their mark on Pankraz Awakens. (p. 84) [For In the Jungle] Brecht derived his notions about America in general and Chicago in particular (as well as some of his imagery, themes and motifs) from two literary sources: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and J. V. Jensen's The Wheel…. [However,] the proximity of Brecht'...

[Carl Zuckmayer] ironically was dismissed from his post as dramatic producer of the theater at Kiel because of his "complete incompetence as an artist." Following his dismissal, he wrote a comedy in the dialect of his home district on the Rhine entitled Der fröhliche Weinberg (The Gay Vineyards, 1925) for which he received the highly esteemed Kleist prize. He has since published numerous plays including the well known The Captain of Köpenick (1930). Zuckmayer's immediate s...