Anzengruber, Ludwig, 1839-89, Austrian writer. An actor and a clerk in the imperial police, Anzengruber had little success as a writer until the production (1870) of his anticlerical play
Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld [the parish priest of Kirchfeld]. It was the first of a series of folk plays and was followed by
Der Meineidbauer (1871, tr.
The Farmer Forsworn, 1913-15) and
Die Kreuzelschreiber (1872, tr.
The Crossmakers, 1958).
Das vierte Gebot (1878, tr.
The Fourth Commandment, 1912) is an early example of
naturalism. Anzengruber also wrote short stories and two novels.
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