SOURCE: An introduction to Three Plays by Ernst Barlach, translated by Alex Page, The University of Minnesota Press, 1964, pp. 3-25.

In the following essay, Page offers an overview of Barlach's career and provides brief analyses of his major plays.

Ernst Barlach's fame as a sculptor of the first rank is well established throughout the Western world. His writings, however, especially his dramas, have suffered relative neglect in all countries but Germany, where they were staged soon after they appeared. The first performances usually evoked sharp reactions, were widely discussed, and exerted important influences on younger playwrights. His best-known play, The Flood, won the coveted Kleist prize in 1924. Since the war there has hardly been a year that has not seen a new production of one of the plays, and a number have become part of the national repertoire. Studies of them have proliferated in Germany. It is now...