Karl Bleibtreu

Karl August Bleibtreu (January 13, 1859 – January 30, 1928) was a German writer who promoted naturalism in German literature. He was noted for his aggressive and dogmatic style of criticism, linked to a nationalistic and sometimes antisemitic agenda. His later work was heavily influenced by Nietzsche's theory of the übermensch.

Bleibtreu was born in Berlin, the son of the battle painter Georg Bleibtreu.

After abandoning his studies in 1884 at the Faculty of Arts in Berlin, Bleibtreu travelled all over Europe, visiting Belgium, Hungary, Italy and the UK. In the same year he became editor of the Kleinen Tagblatts, a Berlin newspaper. From 1885 he worked as a freelance writer in Berlin-Charlottenburg, where he met Michael Georg Conrad, with whom from 1888 to 1890 he worked on the magazine Die Gesellschaft: realistische Wochenschrift für Literatur, Kunst und Leben (Society: realistic weekly for literature, art and life).

In 1886, he published the work which made his name, Revolution der Literatur. This proposed a programmatic body of literature dedicated to an Émile Zola-style of systematic naturalism. In 1890, together with Konrad Alberti, Bleibtreu founded the Deutsche Bühne (German Theatre) in Berlin, as a rival to the then important Freie Bühne (Open Theatre). The project was not very successful and failed shortly thereafter. From 1908 he lived in Zurich.

Bleibtreu was considered an important representative of naturalism in German literature. This he promoted as an editor, producer, director and critic. His writings were characterized by their intolerance of opposition. He saw himself as an educator and leader of German literature, often as its saviour.

As a result of his excessive self-centeredness and egotism he acquired both friends and many enemies. He described himself as a poet and genius turned into a great statesman or commander. Like his friend Michael Georg Conrad, he waged a lifelong battle against contemporary literary critics. Literary critics, in his eyes, were of great importance for the success of an author, because they had power to make or break reputations. He described himself as an anti-Semite and suspected a conspiracy of the Jewish press. Bleibtreu insisted that critics should evaluate only the real quality of a literary work and not - as so often in this period - judge on the basis of aversion to the author or his morals and political intentions. In Revolution der Literatur Bleibtreu described this demand in his characteristically lurid style:

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