The German dramatist and novelist Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (1862-1946) is best known for his pioneering naturalistic dramas. His subsequent work treats in various forms and styles the role of the individual in an apparently deterministic universe.

Gerhart Hauptmann as naturalist, was the leader of the literary school which flourished especially from 1880 to 1900, a period coinciding with German imperialist expansion and industrialization. The naturalists reflected with photographic and frequently harrowing realism the resultant dislocations in a society that confused material progress with its destiny. Scientific and political theorists drew attention to the formative effects of heredity and environment, the exploitation of workers, the subservient role of women, and the general decay of moral fiber. In treating such themes, the naturalists hoped to alert their contemporaries to the need for reform.

Hauptmann was born in Obersalzbrunn, Silesia, on Nov. 15, 1862, the son of a hotel owner. As a dreamy and...