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Benjamin Wedekind was born on July 24, 1864 in Hanover, Germany. His mother was Swiss and became pregnant with him in San Francisco. His father, a German, had a Swiss castle in which Wedekind grew up. Until World War I, when he was forced to obtain a German passport, he was an American citizen and traveled throughout Europe.
Benjamin lived most of his adult life in Munich, though he had a brief period working in advertising, for the Maggi soup firm, in Switzerland in 1886. Having worked in business and the circus, Wedekind went on to become an actor and singer. In this capacity he received wide acclaim as the principal star of the satirical cabaret Die elf Scharfrichter, launched in 1901. At the age of 34, after serving a nine-month prison sentence for "lèse-majesté" (for the publication in Simplicissimus of some of his satirical poems), Wedekind became a dramaturg (a play-reader and adapter) at the Munich Schauspielhaus.
Wedekind's first major play, "Frühlings Erwachen", which concerns sexuality and puberty among some young German students, caused a scandal as it contained scenes of homoeroticism. A number of Wedekind's works have been translated into English by Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr.
Benjamin's attacked naturalism and his theatrical innovations made him a forerunner of both expressionism and the theater of the absurd.
His sex life was promiscuous and he frequented prostitutes, contracting syphilis. He also enjoyed the pleasure of platonic female company and kept his tendencies toward homosexuality and sadism in check.
Quotes from others about the person
...a pioneer of sexual freedom, for men as well as for women, and played in Germany in the first two decades of this century the part which D. H. Lawrence assumed in Britain.
Benjamin had an affair with Frida Uhl who bore him a child. In 1906, he married the Austrian actress Tilly Newes, 22 years his junior, and became strictly monogamous. His relationship with his wife was turbulent, with Wedekind prone to jealousy and he felt pressure to maintain strenuous creative and sexual activity in order to please her. They had two daughters, Pamela and Kadidja, but his jealousy led his wife to attempt both separation and suicide.
