Immermann - Karl Leberecht Immermann

German playwright and novelist. Born in Magdeburg. While working as a district court judge, he devoted himself to creative writing and was also involved in theatrical activities such as managing and directing theaters. His representative works include the full-length novels "Epigone" (1836) and "Münchhausen" (1839). The former depicts the friction between the feudal system and the emerging industrial capital during a transitional period when "they were burdened with inheritance and the burden that comes with being born later." The protagonist emphasizes that industry destroys both humans and nature and argues for a return to traditional agricultural production. The latter portrays the so-called "Baron Bragging" Münchhausen as a fallen aristocrat, and the story unfolds in his castle and his healthy and prosperous rural mansion. The author used a romantic technique of placing the 11th chapter at the beginning, following Hoffmann's style of montage, interweaving the castle and the life of the peasants. Both works can be considered precursors of the critical novel of the times in German literary history. His other work is the autobiographical Memoirs (1840).

[Masakazu Takeda]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの劇作家、小説家。マクデブルク生まれ。地方裁判所判事のかたわら創作に励み、劇場の経営・指導など演劇活動にも携わった。代表作に『エピゴーネン』（1836）や『ミュンヒハウゼン』（1839）などの長編小説がある。前者は「遺産と後に生まれた者について回る重荷を背負う」過渡期における封建的体制と新興産業資本との軋轢(あつれき)を描き、主人公は、産業が人間と自然とを破壊する点を重視して、従来の農業生産に帰れと主張する。後者は、いわゆる「ほら吹き男爵」ミュンヒハウゼンを没落した貴族に仕立て、物語は彼の居城と健康で豊かな農村の上屋敷を舞台に展開する。作者は第11章を冒頭に置くというロマン主義風の技法を使い、城と農民の生活を交錯させるホフマン流のモンタージュ形式を踏襲した。両作品とも、ドイツ文学史でいう時代批判小説の先駆ともいえる。ほかに自伝風な『回想録』（1840）がある。

［武田昌一］

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