Hermann Kasack

Born July 24, 1896, in Potsdam; died Jan. 10, 1966, in Stuttgart. West German writer.

Kasack was a philosopher by education. The early expressionistic lyricism of his work, exemplified by the play Tragic Mission (1917; published in 1920) and the collection of verse Man (1918), was later replaced by speculative poetry, strict in form and full of mysticism. The latter is found in the collections Eternal Truth (1943) and Watermark (1964). His novels The City Beyond the River (1947) and The Big Net (1952) were close in style to those of Kafka. Kasack’s novellas The Cloth Machine (1949) and The Forgeries (1953) were strongly antifascist and dealt with the theme of the degradation of man in capitalist society, although their social criticism was blunted by the influence of existentialism. Kasack’s other work included a collection of essays entitled Mosaic (1956). In 1949 he was awarded the Fontane Prize.