Max Kretzer (7 June 1854 – 15 July 1941) was a German writer. He left school at the age of thirteen and worked in a factory for twelve years. He became a prolific and successful novelist in the social realist style, depicting common working people.
Max Kretzer was born on 7 June 1854 in Posen, then in Prussia.
His father was the main tenant of the Odeum, an establishment in which the provincial bourgeoisie held cultural events.
His father attempted to establish himself as an innkeeper, but failed.
With the family impoverished, at the age of 13 Max Kretzer had to leave school.
He moved to Berlin, where his father worked as a craftsman, and for twelve years worked in a factory.[1]
Although poorly educated, Kretzer began a career as a self-taught writer after an accident at work in 1879.
He joined the Social Democrats the same year.
At first he published short sketches, then a long series of novels, which sold about one million copies in his lifetime.
At that period this was a large number.
Despite this success, Kretzer was often poverty-stricken.
After 1933 Kretzer sympathized with Nazism. He died on 15 July 1941 in Berlin.[1]
Kretzer's work shows an ethical and increasingly Christian socialism, e.g. in "Das Gesicht Christi" (i.e. The Face of Christ), in which Jesus appears and fights "modern" degeneracy.
He was one of the first naturalist writers, and the first to describe crafts and industrial workers.
He was seen by his contemporaries as "the pioneer of the Berlin novel".[1]
Works include:
Die beiden Genossen (The Two Comrades), Berlin 1880
Strange Enthusiast, Berlin, 2 volumes (1881)
Die Betrogenen (The Deceived), Berlin, 2 volumes (1882)
Schwarzkittel oder die Geheimnisse des Lichthofes (Black Coat or the Secrets of the Atrium), Leipzig [u. a.] 1882
Berliner Novellen und Sittenbilder, Jena
Vol. 1. Polizeiberichte, 1883
Vol. 2. Die Zweiseelenmenschen, 1883
Gesammelte Berliner Skizzen, Berlin [u. a.] 1883
Die Verkommenen, Berlin, 2 volumes, 1883
Im Sturmwind des Socialismus, Berlin 1884
Drei Weiber, Jena, 2 volumes, 1886
Im Riesennest, Leipzig 1886
Im Sündenbabel, Leipzig 1886
Bürgerlicher Tod, Dresden [u. a.] 1888
Meister Timpe, Berlin 1888
Ein verschlossener Mensch, Leipzig, 2 volumes. (1888)