| Reinhard Johannes Sorge | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 January 1892 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | 20 July 1916 (aged 24) Ablaincourt, France |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | German |
| Literary movement | Expressionism |
Reinhard Sorge (29 January 1892, Berlin, German Empire – 20 July 1916, Ablaincourt, France) was a German dramatist and poet. He is best known for writing the Expressionist play The Beggar (Der Bettler), which won the Kleist Prize in 1912. Sorge served in the Imperial German Army in World War I beginning in 1915. He was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in summer 1916.
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Sorge was born in Berlin-Rixdorf, the son of a middle class salesman. When he was nine years old, his family moved to Jena. According to Tim Cross,
"The blight of his childhood was his father's mental illness. To escape the oppressive atmosphere at home, Sorge was sent to East Prussia to live with a parson and his family. Here he recovered an inner balance, a sense of purpose which was essentially Christian, and which laid the foundation for his future development."[1]
He began to write at the age of sixteen, but lost his faith after discovering the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also greatly inspired by the writings of Stefan George and August Strindberg. According to Rev. B. O'Brien,
"The result was that he soon launched an attack on all that he conceived as a check on himself and his comrades. He caused common prayers and grace at table to be given up in his pious Lutheran home, and destroyed his young brother's belief in God and Heaven. In order to be free from the restrictions of school life, he left school a year before the end, with the resolution of studying for the leaving examination privately -- which he never did."[2]
After leaving school, Sorge switched to writing full time. According to O'Brien,
"His first poem was called, 'The Youth,' and described his own Nietzschean ideals. The second was a complete play called, 'The Beggar: A Theatrical Mission,' which was again a drama about himself, a describes in a series of violent scenes how he tests and rejects various classes of men as unfit for the highest ideals."[3]
In 1912, "The Beggar" was published to rapt reviews and subsequently awarded that year's Kleist Prize. Sorge used his winnings to marry his longtime fiancee, Susanne Maria Handewerk. Together, they took a honeymoon cruise via North German Lloyd to Italy. While on tour in Naples and Rome, the Sorges were deeply moved by the pious Catholicism of the Italian people.
In a letter to his mother, Sorge wrote,
"In the Revelation of St. John the heavenly visions are so depicted -- golden censers are swung; people kneel and worship in solemn vesture, with crowns on their heads, a woman clothed with the sun appears (Mary). See, all quite Catholic, and that from St. John, a favorite disciple of the Lord. Our earthly Church must be a copy of the heavenly."[4]
After returning to Germany, the Sorges were received into the Roman Catholic Church at Jena in September 1913. He subsequently wrote to a friend,
"My soul was always inherently Christian, but I was misled by Nietzsche, entangled in suns and stars. In Der Bettler, I invoked the Name of God many a time quite unconsciously, and yet thought myself a fervent disciple of Nietzsche, who denies God's very existence."[5]
To the distress of Germany's Expressionist movement, Sorge vowed, "Thenceforth my pen has been and forever will be Christ's stylus—until my death."[6] As a result, his subsequent writings were all centered on fervently religious themes. He also succeeded in winning over many of his friends and relatives to Catholicism. Sorge had less success in his evangelizing letters to Ranier Maria Rilke and to his former mentor, Richard Dehmel. The subsequent influence of Sorge on German Catholic poetry led Rev. B. O'Brien to compare him to Francis Thompson.
Sorge was drafted in the Imperial German Army in 1915. According to his letters to Susanne, Sorge used his devout Catholic beliefs in order to deal with the horrors of trench warfare. He also spent much of his free time trying to win his fellow soldiers over to Roman Catholicism. While serving at the Somme, Sorge was severely wounded and died the same day, 20 July 1916, at a field dressing station near Ablaincourt.[7] A short time before, he had written to Susanne,
"I suppose it is the imperfection of it all that I feel, and then the longing for our life together breaks through; but soon my soul is soothed and consoled by the conviction that this period has to be, that without it there can be no perfection."[8]
According to the website of the German War Graves Commission, Reinhard Johannes Sorge lies buried in a communal war grave at the Vermandovillers German war cemetery, located near the battlefield where he died.[9] The remains of the Expressionist poet Alfred Lichtenstein lie in the same cemetery.