Hans Carossa (1878–1956) was a German physician, poet, and novelist. He was a pioneer of the German autobiographical novel.
Born in Tölz, Bavaria, Carossa studied medicine at Munich, Würzburg, and Leipzig, and practiced in Passau and Munich. In 1914, he served as a volunteer-medical officer for the army. His literary career began with a book of lyric poetry, Stella Mystica (1902, ‘Mystical Star,’) a thoughtful expression of emotions.
Carossa’s first novel, Doktor Bürgers Ende (1913, ‘The End of Doctor Bürger;’ republished as Die Schicksale Doktor Bürgers, 1930, ‘The Fortunes of Doctor Bürger’) describes a young doctor who gives up hope after witnessing the suffering around him and commits suicide after failing to save the woman he loves. The first work that earned him recognition outside Germany was Rumänisches Tagebuch (1924, ‘A Roumanian Diary;’ republished as Tagebuch im Kriege, 1934, ‘War Diary,’) which featured musings of an army doctor in Romania during World War I.
Carossa’s other autobiographical works include Eine Kindheit (1922, ‘A Childhood,’) Das Jahr der schönen Täuschungen einer Jugend (1941, ‘The Year of Sweet Illusions,’) and Verwandlungen einer Jugend (1928, ‘Boyhood and Youth.’) His unfinished last work, Der Tag des Jungen Arztes (1955, ‘The Day of the Young Doctor,’) surveys the conflicts between his responsibilities as a physician and as a writer.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Hans Carossa
The seer will perhaps look deepest into the future when the present is calm.
—Hans Carossa
Good ideas are like mushrooms, where you find one you often find more.
—Hans Carossa
What one is, what one was,
When we part it becomes evident.
We don’t hear when God’s way hums,
We only shudder when it falls silent.
—Hans Carossa
Even the bitterest words that people say to one another seldom seem as divisive as the unspoken words that one expects from the other in vain.
—Hans Carossa
The years of getting up again after a tremendous collapse, these are the good growth years of the people.
—Hans Carossa
Life is a gathering to which only a limited number are invited at a time, and the invitation is never repeated.
—Hans Carossa
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Berthold Auerbach German Novelist
Thomas Mann German Novelist
Jean Paul German Novelist
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German Poet
Bertolt Brecht German Poet
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock German Poet
Friedrich Schiller German Poet
Werner Heisenberg German Theoretical Physicist
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing German Writer
Nikos Kazantzakis Greek Novelist, Statesman