Johannes Schlaf's literary career falls into two phases that mark a move from the center of innovation in the 1890s to the periphery of significance in twentieth-century literature. First came his partnership with Arno Holz between 1888 and 1892, and with it the emergence of German naturalist drama. With Holz, Schlaf wrote Die Familie Selicke (The Selicke Family, 1890); he then worked alone on Meister Oelze (Master Oelze; published, 1892; performed, 1894). Critics now consider these works seminal and typical, respectively, for the "konsequenter Naturalismus" (consistent naturalism) of that era and detect in them elements that anticipate trends of modern drama. The second phase followed Schlaf's break with Holz and his nervous breakdown in the 1890s; this phase was dominated by prose works. A long dispute with Holz, from 1898 to 1912 about their respective contributions to naturalism sheds light on that revolution's achievements. Schlaf wrote four postnaturalist dramas between 1898 and 1906 and worked on the...