Reinhard Sorge
| Reinhard Johannes Sorge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
29 January 1892 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | 20 July 1916 (aged 24) Ablaincourt, France |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | German |
| Literary movement | Expressionism |
Reinhard Sorge (29 January 1892, Berlin, German Empire – 20 July 1916, Ablaincourt, France) was a German dramatist and poet. He is best known for writing the Expressionist play The Beggar (Der Bettler), which won the Kleist Prize in 1912. Sorge served in the Imperial German Army in World War I beginning in 1915. He was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in summer 1916.
Sorge was born in Berlin-Rixdorf, the son of a middle class salesman. When he was nine years old, his family moved to Jena. According to Tim Cross,
"The blight of his childhood was his father's mental illness. To escape the oppressive atmosphere at home, Sorge was sent to East Prussia to live with a parson and his family. Here he recovered an inner balance, a sense of purpose which was essentially Christian, and which laid the foundation for his future development."
He began to write at the age of sixteen, but lost his faith after discovering the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also greatly inspired by the writings of Stefan George and August Strindberg. According to Rev. B. O'Brien,
"The result was that he soon launched an attack on all that he conceived as a check on himself and his comrades. He caused common prayers and grace at table to be given up in his pious Lutheran home, and destroyed his young brother's belief in God and Heaven. In order to be free from the restrictions of school life, he left school a year before the end, with the resolution of studying for the leaving examination privately -- which he never did."
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