page_title: Reinhard Sorge
section_title: Writing career
hierarchical_section_title: Reinhard Sorge / Writing career
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Faksimile der Handschrift Sorges
context_page_description: Reinhard Sorge was a German dramatist and poet. He is best known for writing the Expressionist play The Beggar, which won the Kleist Prize in 1912. Sorge served in the Imperial German Army in World War I beginning in 1915. He was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in summer 1916.
context_section_description: After leaving school, Sorge switched to writing full-time. According to O'Brien, 
  "His first poem was called, 'The Youth,' and described his own Nietzschean ideals. The second was a complete play called, 'The Beggar: A Theatrical Mission,' which was again a drama about himself, a describes in a series of violent scenes how he tests and rejects various classes of men as unfit for the highest ideals."
  In 1912, "The Beggar" was published to rapt reviews and subsequently awarded that year's Kleist Prize. Sorge used his winnings to marry his longtime fiancée, Susanne Maria Handewerk. Together, they took a honeymoon cruise via North German Lloyd to Italy. While on tour in Naples and Rome, the Sorges were deeply moved by the pious Catholicism of the Italian people.
  
  In a letter to his mother, Sorge wrote, 
  "In the Revelation of St. John the heavenly visions are so depicted -- golden censers are swung; people kneel and worship in solemn vesture, with crowns on their heads, a woman clothed with the sun appears (Mary). See, all quite Catholic, and that from St. John, a favorite disciple of the Lord. Our earthly Church must be a copy of the heavenly."
caption: Facsimile of Sorge's Handwriting
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