''Fires of St. John'' () is a 1900 play by the German writer

Hermann Sudermann Hermann Sudermann (30 September 1857 – 21 November 1928) was a German dramatist and novelist. Life Early career Sudermann was born at Matzicken, a village to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia (now Macikai, in southwestern ...

. It is also known as ''Saint John's Fire''. The narrative follows a triangle drama between the daughter of a

landed proprietor In real estate, a landed property or landed estate is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In medieval Western Europe, there were two compe ...

, her cousin who she is engaged to, and her Gypsy adoptive sister who also is in love with the cousin. The drama culminates on a

Saint John's Eve Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke ...

which is loaded with both Christian and pre-Christian symbols. The theme of the play is gratitude and dependence, and the bonds it can create.

Adaptations

The play was adapted for film in 1916 as '' The Flames of Johannis'', directed by Edgar Lewis, in 1939 as ''

Midsummer Night's Fire ''Midsummer Night's Fire'' or ''St. John's Fire'' () is a 1939 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Anna Dammann, Ernst von Klipstein, and Gertrud Meyen. The film is based on the play '' Fires of St. John'' by Herma ...

'', directed by

Arthur Maria Rabenalt Arthur Maria Rabenalt (25 June 1905 – 26 February 1993) was an Austrian film director, writer, and author. He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978. His 1958 film ''That Won't Keep a Sailor Down'' was entered into the 1st Moscow In ...

, and in 1954 as '' Love is Forever'', directed by

Wolfgang Liebeneiner Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner (6 October 1905 – 28 November 1987) was a German actor, film director and theatre director. Beginnings He was born in Lubawka, Liebau in Prussian Silesia. In 1928, he was taught by Otto Falckenberg, the directo ...

References

External links

''Fires of St. John''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

''Johannisfeuer''
at the

1900 plays German-language literature German plays adapted into films Plays by Hermann Sudermann {{1900s-play-stub