LINDAU

lindau, paul (1839- ), german dramatist and novelist, the son of a protestant pastor, was born at magdeburg on the 3rd of june 1839. he was educated at the gymnasium in halle and subsequently in leipzig and berlin. he spent five years in paris to further his studies, acting meanwhile as foreign correspondent to german papers. after his return to germany in 1863 he was engaged in journalism in dusseldorf and elberfeld. in 1870 he founded _das neue blatt_ at leipzig; from 1872 to 1881 he edited the berlin weekly, _die gegenwart_; and in 1878 he founded the well-known monthly, _nord und sud_, which he continued to edit until 1904. two books of travel, _aus venetien_ (dusseldorf, 1864) and _aus paris_ (stuttgart, 1865). were followed by some volumes of critical studies, written in a light, satirical vein, which at once made him famous. these were _harmlose briefe eines deutschen kleinstadters_ (leipzig, 2 vols., 1870), _moderne marchen fur grosse kinder_ (leipzig, 1870) and _literarische rucksichtslosigkeiten_ (leipzig, 1871). he was appointed intendant of the court theatre at meiningen in 1895, but removed to berlin in 1899, where he became manager of the berliner theater, and subsequently, until 1905, of the deutsches theater. he had begun his dramatic career in 1868 with _marion_, the first of a long series of plays in which he displayed a remarkable talent for stage effect and a command of witty and lively dialogue. among the more famous were _maria und magdalena_ (1872), _tante therese_ (1876), _grafin lea_ (1879), _die erste_ (1895), _der abend_ (1896), _der herr im hause_ (1899), _so ich dir_ (1903), and he adapted many plays by dumas, augier and sardou for the german stage. five volumes of his plays have been published (berlin, 1873-1888). some of his volumes of short stories acquired great popularity, notably _herr und frau bewer_ (breslau, 1882) and t_oggenburg und andere geschichten_ (breslau, 1883). a novel-sequence entitled _berlin_ included _der zug nach dem westen_ (stuttgart, 1886, 10th ed. 1903), _arme madchen_ (1887, 9th ed. 1905) and _spitzen_ (1888, 8th ed. 1904). later novels were _die gehilfin_ (breslau, 1894), _die bruder_, (dresden, 1895), _der konig von sidon_ (breslau, 1898). his earlier books on _moliere_ (leipzig, 1871) and _alfred de musset_ (berlin, 1877) were followed by some volumes of dramatic and literary criticism, _gesammelte aufsatze_ (berlin, 1875), _dramaturgische blatter_ (stuttgart, 2 vols., 1875; new series, breslau, 1878, 2 vols.), _vorspiele auf dem theater_ (breslau, 1895). his brother, rudolf lindau (b. 1829), was a well-known diplomatist and author. his novels and tales were collected in 1893 (berlin, 6 vols.). the most attractive, such as _reisegefahrten_ and _der lange hollander_, deal with the life of european residents in the far east. see hadlich, _paul lindau als dramatischer dichter_ (2nd ed., berlin, 1876).