Hermann Sudermann

The Cat's Bridge Hermann Sudermann

Hermann Sudermann (1857-1928) was a German journalist, dramatist and novelist. Sudermann's nationalism and romanticized ideas of ethnicity and homeland made him a favourite during World War II. He is best known today for the 1927 silent films Sunrise, based on his short story Die Reise nach Tilsit (Trip to Tilset); The Song of Songs, starring Marlene Dietrich, based on his novel Das Hohe Lied; and Flesh and the Devil, starring Greta Garbo, based on his play The Undying Past. Sudermann's 1890 novel Der Katzensteg (The Cats' Bridge) was the first novel which critics decreed was "sufficiently original to erect his own" literary standard.