Anzengruber, Ludwig auch L. Gruber#
b. Vienna, Nov. 29, 1839, d. Vienna, Dec. 10, 1889, writer. 1853 apprenticed to a bookseller, became an actor with a touring company in 1860. 1869/70 worked in a Viennese police station. Freelance writer from 1871. His work includes 19 popular plays, novels and stories dealing with the life of alpine farmers and the urban lower middle class. It is pervaded by heavy social criticism and denounces moral prejudices and religious intolerance. His realistic plays are in the tradition of the Viennese popular plays such as those by F. Raimund, J. Nestroy and F. Kaiser, but also represent a transition to the naturalist style ("Das 4. Gebot", 1877). His language is a stylized Austrian dialect. 1882-1884/85 editor of the magazine "Die Heimat", 1884-1889 of the humorous magazine "Figaro".
Works#
Popular plays: Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld, 1870; Der Meineidbauer, 1871; Die Kreuzelschreiber, 1872; Der G´wissenswurm, 1874; Doppelselbstmord, 1876. - Narratives: Die Maerchen des Steinklopferhannes, 1874/75; Kalendergeschichten, ab 1876. - Novels: Der Schandfleck, 1876; Der Sternsteinhof, 1885 (first print 1883/84 in "Die Heimat"). - Annotated complete works, 17 vols., ed. by R. Latzke and O. Rommel, 1920-1922 (new print 1976).Literature#
K. Rossbacher, Literatur und Liberalismus, 1992.