Johannes Schlaf

Johannes Schlaf (June 21, 1862 in Querfurt – February 2, 1941 in Querfurt) was a German playwright, author, and translator and an important exponent of Naturalism. As a translator he was important for exposing the German-speaking world to the works of Walt Whitman, Émile Verhaeren and Émile Zola and is known as a founder of the "Whitman Cult" in Germany. His literary achievements lie foremost in the scenic-dialogue innovations of "sequential naturalism" and in the formalization of literary impressionism. He also contributed to the emergence of the "intimate theater."

Some of his poems have been set to music by composers Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg.

He is sometimes mistakenly cited for coining the term "The Third Reich" in relation to Nazism because of his 1906 novel by that name. The Nazi use of the term comes from a 1923 novel, Das Dritte Reich by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck.

Schlaf was the son of a commercial clerk in Querfurt, a town in Saxony-Anhalt. Because his family lived in cramped quarters, he lived temporarily with his grandparents. His Grandmother, an educated woman, supported him in his passion for art and literature at an early age. In an autobiographical sketch from 1902, Schlaf claimed to have written verses and puppet shows at the age of 12 and short stories while an adolescent. He also showed a talent for drawing. In 1875, Schlaf's father took a job in a construction business in the emerging industrialism of nearby Magdeburg. Schlaf returned to his family where his father enforced a strict regime, and where Schalf felt more fear than affection.

From 1875 to 1884 Schlaf attended the cathedral school in Magdeburg, joining a student club, "Covenant of the Living" in 1882. With this club he encountered recent writings in the fields of philosophy, science, and literature. In 1884 he graduated and went to study in Halle, the largest city in Saxony-Anhalt. His program of study was theology, German, classicism, and philosophy, but he was more engaged in connecting with other students than his studies. His earliest publications date from his time in Halle.

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