Nationality German Role Writer Name Max Kretzer | Known for Social realism Occupation Author | |
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Born 7 July 1854 ( 1854-07-07 ) Posen, Prussia Died July 15, 1941, Berlin, Germany | ||
Max Kretzer (7 June 1854 – 15 July 1941) was a German writer. He left school at the age of thirteen and worked in a factory for twelve years. He became a prolific and successful novelist in the social realist style, depicting common working people.
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Life
Max Kretzer was born on 7 June 1854 in Posen, then in Prussia. His father was the main tenant of the Odeum, an establishment in which the provincial bourgeoisie held cultural events. His father attempted to establish himself as an innkeeper, but failed. With the family impoverished, at the age of 13 Max Kretzer had to leave school. He moved to Berlin, where his father worked as a craftsman, and for twelve years worked in a factory.
Although poorly educated, Kretzer began a career as a self-taught writer after an accident at work in 1879. He joined the Social Democrats the same year. At first he published short sketches, then a long series of novels, which sold about one million copies in his lifetime. At that period this was a large number. Despite this success, Kretzer was often poverty-stricken. After 1933 Kretzer sympathized with Nazism. He died on 15 July 1941 in Berlin.
Work
Kretzer's work shows an ethical and increasingly Christian socialism. He was one of the first naturalist writers, and the first to describe crafts and industrial workers. He was seen by his contemporaries as "the pioneer of the Berlin novel". Works include: