Ferdinand von Saar

1833–1906 (age 73)

Biography

Ferdinand von Saar's novels and stories mirrored Vienna's aristocratic salons and the quiet anxieties of the lower middle class, capturing the complexities of duty, love, and social change with a realist's eye.

He also contributed essays and plays that kept the city debating the moral and aesthetic questions of the day, and younger writers looked to him as a steady mentor.