Richard Voss

Richard Voss (September 2, 1851 – June 10, 1918) was a German dramatist and novelist. In standard German orthography, his name is printed as Voß.

Voss was born at Neu-Grape near Pyritz, in Pomerania, the son of a country squire.

Though intended for the life of a country gentleman, he showed no inclination for outdoor life, and on his return from the war of 1870-71, in which he was wounded, he studied philosophy at Jena and Munich, and then settled at Berchtesgaden. In 1884 Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, appointed Voss as librarian of the Wartburg, but he later resigned the post, due to ill health.

Voss spent 25 years of his life living at Frascati, near Rome, where he wrote many of his novels and plays. He was granted honorary citizenship of the town.

Dramas

• Savonarola (1878)
• Magda (1879)
• Die Patricierin, a classical drama, which won the Schiller prize in 1896 (The Patrician Dame; 1880)
• Pater Modestus, dealing with the problem of religion (1882)
• Der Mohr des Zaren (1883)
• Unehrlich Volk (1885)
• Alexandra (1888)
• Eva, patterned after Ibsen's character Nora (1889)
• Wehe dem Besiegten (Woe to the Vanquished; 1889)
• Die neue Zeit (1891)
• Schuldig (1892)

Novels

• San Sebastian (1883)
• Der Sohn der Volskerin (1885)
• Die Sabinerin, remarkable for its beautiful descriptions of Italian country (1888)
• Der Mönch von Berchtesgaden (1891)
• Villa Falconieri, the story of a successful poet who lost confidence in his powers (1896)
• Der neue Gott (1898)
• Die Rächerin (1899)
• Amata, a story of Rome in Nero's time (1901)
• Römisches Fieber (1902)
• Allerlei Erlebtes (1902)
• Die Leute von Valdars (1902)
• Zwei Menschen (1911)