About
A Baltic-German writer and dramatist associated with the Sturm und Drang movement, he is most famous for his 1774 play Der Hofmeister, oder Vorteile der Privaterziehung (The Tutor, or, The Advantages of Private Education). His other works include Der neue Menoza (play) and Zerbin (novella).
Before Fame
He received an academic scholarship to study theology in Dorpat and Konigsberg.
Trivia
He published his first verse play, Die Landplagen (The Torments of the Land), in 1769.
Family Life
He suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and, despite his wife's and brother's attempts to help him, he was found dead in Moscow at the age of forty-one.
Associated With
He was a contemporary of Johann von Goethe.
