Gustav Falke

Falke, Gustav (Lübeck, 1853-1916, Groß-Borstel, Hamburg), was a bookseller and later a music teacher in Hamburg. His literary gifts were discovered by D. von Liliencron. In 1903 he was granted a pension by the Hamburg Senate, and he devoted himself thereafter entirely to literature. He wrote smooth and simple verse of folk-song or Romantic character, some of it in dialect (Mynheer der Tod und andere Gedichte, 1892; Tanz und Andacht, 1893; Zwischen zwei Nächten, 1894; Neue Fahrt, 1897; Mit dem Leben, 1899; Hohe Sommertage, 1902; En Handvull Appeln, 1906; Frohe Fracht, 1907). He is the author of novels and stories, principally of local interest (Aus dem Durchschnitt, 1892; Landen und Stranden, 2 vols., 1895; Der Mann im Nebel, 1899; Die Kinder aus Ohlsens Gang, 1908). A collection of Novellen, Geelgösch, as well as the separate story Der Spanier, appeared in 1910. Die Stadt mit den goldnen Türmen (1912) is his autobiography. His collected works, Gesammelte Dichtungen, were published in 5 vols. in 1912.