The works of the German dramatist and novelist Hermann Sudermann (1857-1928) reflect both the scope and the limitations of naturalism.

Hermann Sudermann was born in Matziken, East Prussia, on Sept. 30, 1857. He described his youthful poverty in Das Bilderbuch meiner Jugend (1922). He found initial success in Berlin with his novel Frau Sorge (1887), in which an East Prussian farmer triumphs over poverty and other vicissitudes through dedication to hard work, self-reliance, and self-sacrifice.

More directly in the stream of naturalism was Sudermann's four-act drama, Die Ehre, produced in November 1889. It treats of class conflict and the relativity of the concept of honor, contrasting the rich, dwelling in the "front of the house," with the humble occupants of the "rear of the house." Without glorifying the latter, Sudermann defends the viability of bourgeois principles and a persistent idealistic sense.

The structural symmetry of Die Ehre--not a characteristically naturalistic technique--is present...