ABSTRACT
A student in Munich, Lautensack participated in the Elf Scharfrichter cabaret and became a fervent admirer of Frank Wedekind. After his move to Berlin he collaborated with Alfred Richard Meyer in the publication of the Lyrische Flugblätter and also with Anselm Ruest, of the Bücherei Maiandros. Lautensack excelled at erotica and the scurrilous treatment of religious themes (Sulamith (1906); Medusa-Aus den Papieren eines Mönchs (1904); Hahnenkampf (1908)); the Documente der Liebesraserei-Die gesammelten Gedichte (including Onan and Das Lied des Haremwächters) appeared in 1910. Of his plays Die Pfarrhauskomödie (1911) and Das Gelübde (1916) should be noted. Lautensack became increasingly interested in the cinema as an art form; his most successful film was an adaptation of Hebbel’s Mutter und Kind. He was called up in 1914 and fought on the Eastern Front; his knowledge of film technique caused the military authorities to recall him to Berlin in 1917. His mental condition deteriorated, and in 1918, during an attempt to film Frank Wedekind’s funeral, he collapsed at the grave. His last months were spent in an asylum near Berlin. The most important of the posthumous publications include Altbayrische Bilderbogen-Prosadichtungen (1920) and Die Samländische Ode (1926). The Gesammelte Werke appeared under the title Das verstörte Fest in 1966.
