author
Wilhelm von Polenz
1861–1903
A sharp-eyed German novelist of the late 19th century, he wrote vivid stories about village life, social change, and the tensions between old traditions and the modern world. His best-known work, Der Büttnerbauer, helped make him an important voice in literary naturalism.
2 Audiobooks
Liebe ist ewig : Roman
by Wilhelm von Polenz
Novellenbuch, 2. Band: Dorfgeschichten
by Ernst Wichert, Rudolf Greinz, Wilhelm von Polenz, Heinrich Sohnrey
About the author
Born in Obercunewalde in Saxony in January 1861, Wilhelm von Polenz came from an old noble family and studied law in Breslau, Berlin, and Leipzig before turning fully toward literature. He moved in Berlin literary circles and developed as a novelist, dramatist, and storyteller during a period of rapid social change in Germany.
Polenz is especially remembered for novels set in rural Saxony and Lusatia, where he closely observed class relations, religion, and everyday village life. His fiction is often linked with German naturalism, and Der Büttnerbauer remains his most widely recognized book.
He died in November 1903 at the age of 42. Though his life was relatively short, his work left a lasting record of country life and social conflict in fin-de-siècle Germany.