Sternheim, Carl (1878-1942)

German dramatist. His series of comedies collectively entitled Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben/From the Heroic Life of the Bourgeoisie 1910-22 turned a savage, satirical eye on the philistinism and questionable morality of contemporary society, and attracted the attention of the censor. Sternheim's criticism of bourgeois hypocrisy is further elaborated in Bürger Schippel/Citizen Schippel 1913.

Sternheim's growing concern with politics and social and individual responsibility gave rise to the drama Tabula Rasa 1916, in which the central character, a self-seeking workers' representative, betrays his class and joins the bourgeoisie. However, there is no social satire in the powerful and eloquent Die Marquise von Arcis 1919, borrowed from a story by the French philosopher Denis Diderot, which pleads against the rigid conventions that condemn individuals to their station in life. In true German expressionist manner, it demands the emergence of a new human in a new society.

Sternheim was born in Leipzig. His political comedy Der Kandidat/The Candidate 1914 is based on a work by the French novelist Gustave Flaubert. The series Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben/From the Heroic Life of the Bourgeoisie includes a trilogy of plays - Die Hose/The Knickers 1911, Der Snob/A Place in the World 1914, and 1913 1915 - about three generations of a family of social climbers.