Carl Sternheim

Sternheim's critics have always been divided: the central problem which his work poses - the question of whether it represents satire or affirmation of the «bürgerlicher Held» - has preoccupied criticism for the last seventy years. It is in the interests of isolating and analysing these conflicting aspects of Sternheim's work that this study has been undertaken. It examines, largely chronologically, all Sternheim's creative work, dramatic and narrative, tracing the significant shifts in Sternheim's theoretical position and explo- ring their implications for his works and their interpretations.