Hermann Anastas Bahr (; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, playwright, director, and critic.

Biography

Born and raised in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, Bahr studied in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Czernowitz and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, devoting special attention to

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. During a prolonged stay in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he discovered his interest in literature and art. He began working as an art critic, first in Berlin, then in Vienna. In

1890 Events January * January 1 – The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in the Horn of Africa. * January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House. * January 11 – 1890 British Ultimatum: The Uni ...

he became associate editor of ''Berliner Freie Bühne'' (''Berlin Free Stage''), and later became associate editor and critic of the ''Deutsche Zeitung'' (''German Newspaper''). In 1894 he began publication of ''Die Zeit'' (''The Times''), and was also editor of the ''Neue Wiener Tagblatt'' (''New Vienna Daily Flyer'') and the ''Oesterreichische Volkszeitung'' (''Austrian Popular Newspaper''). Hermann Bahr 1891

In 1906–07, Bahr worked with

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...

as a director at the German Theater () in

, and starting in 1918 he was a

Dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

with the Vienna

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

. Spokesman for the literary group

Young Vienna Young Vienna (''Jung-Wien''), also referred to as Young Austria, was a society of ''fin de siècle'' writers who met in Vienna's Café Griensteidl and other nearby coffeehouses in the late nineteenth century. The group turned away from the preva ...

, Bahr was an active member of the Austrian avant-garde, producing both criticism and

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

plays. Bahr's association with the coffeehouse literati made him one of the main targets of Karl Kraus's satirical journal '' Die Fackel'' (''The Torch'') after Kraus's falling out with the group. Following his accusation of Bahr and Emmerich Bukovics, then director of the Volkstheater, of corruption concerning the ''Villa Bahr'' in Ober St.Veit, Kraus, in 1901, lost his only civil law case ever. Bahr was the first critic to apply the label

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

to literary works, and was an early observer of

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. His theoretical papers were important in the definition of new literary categories. His 40 plays and around 10 novels never reached the quality of his theoretical work. He died, aged 70, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Selected fiction

Plays

* ''The New People'' (''Die neuen Menschen'' – 1887) * ''The Mother'' (''Die Mutter'' – 1891) *''Das Tschaperl'' (1897) *''Der Star'' (1899) *''Wienerinnen'' (1900) *''Der Krampus'' (1902) *''Ringelspiel'' (1907) *'' The Concert'' (''Das Konzert'' – 1909) *''The Children'' (''Die Kinder'' – 1911) *''Das Prinzip'' (1912) *''Der Querulant'' (1914) *''The Master'' (''Der Meister'' – 1904)

Short stories and novellas

*''The School of Love'' (''Die gute Schule. Seelenstände'' – 1890) *''Fin de siècle'' (1891) *''Die Rahl'' (1908) *''O Mensch'' (1910) *''Österreich in Ewigkeit'' (1929)

Selected nonfiction

Essays

*''Zur Kritik der Moderne'' (1890) *''Die Überwindung des Naturalismus'' (1891) *''Symbolisten'' (1894) *''Wiener Theater'' (1899) *''Frauenrecht'' (1912
eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria full text)
*''Inventur'' (1912) *''Expressionismus'' (1916) *''Burgtheater'' (1920)

Books

*''Theater'' (1897) *''Drut'' (1909) *''Himmelfahrt'' (1916) *''Die Rotte Korahs'' (1919) *''Self-Portrait'' (''Selbstbildnis'' – 1923), an autobiography

References

External links

Hermann Bahr on the eLibrary Austria Project (Information and eLib Austria full txts)Bibliography of his books as well as (English) translations, articles to download and literatureResearch group at the Leuphana University Lüneburg currently assembling and publishing Bahr's critical writings, essays, and articles
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr, Hermann 1863 births 1934 deaths Writers from Linz 19th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights Austrian male dramatists and playwrights Young Vienna Dramatists and playwrights from Austria-Hungary