IMMERMANN, KARL LEBERECHT German dramatist and novelist, was born on April 24, 1796 at Magdeburg, the son of a government official. His legal studies at Halle were interrupted by the call to arms and by the campaign of 1815, after which he returned to the university. He was Referen dar in Magdeburg, and in 1819 Assessor at Munster in Westphalia. Here he made the acquaintance of Elise von Lutzow, Countess von Ahlefeldt, wife of the leader of the famous "free corps" (see LvTzow), and their relationship is reflected in several dramas written about this time. In 1823 Immermann was appointed judge at Magdeburg, and in 1827 was transferred to Dusseldorf as Landgerichtsrat or district judge. Thither the countess, whose marriage had in the meantime been dissolved, followed him, and, though refusing his hand, shared his home until his marriage in 1839. In 1834 Immermann became manager of the Dusseldorf theatre where he accomplished great things in spite of lack of adequate funds. In 1836 he returned to his official duties. He died at Dusseldorf on Aug. 25, 184o.
Immermann's early plays are imitations, partly of Kotzebue's, partly of the Romantic dramas of Tieck and Milliner, and are now forgotten. In 1826, however, appeared Cardenio and Celinde, a love tragedy ridiculed by Platen in his wittiest satire, Der romantisclie Oedipus. Between 1827 and 1832 Immermann wrote a series of historical tragedies, Das Trauerspiel in Tirol (1827), Kaiser Friedrich II. (1828) and a trilogy from Russian history, Alexis (1832). His masterpiece is the poetic mystery, Merlin (1831), which, like its model, Faust, deals with the problems of spiritual life. Immermann's important dramaturgic experiments in Dusseldorf are described in detail in Diisseldor f er An f tinge (184o) . As a novelist he clearly stands on the boundary line be tween Romanticism and modern literature; his Epigonen (1836) might be described as one of the last Romantic imitations of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, while the satirical picture of contem porary life in his second novel, Miinchhausen (1838), forms a full break with the older literature. In Miinchhausen is embedded the admirable story of village life, Der Oberhof. His last work was an unfinished epic, Tristan and Isolde (184o).
Immermann's Gesammelte Schriften were published in 14 vols. in ; a new edition, with biography and introduction by R. Box berger, in 20 vols. (Berlin, 1883) ; selected works, edited by M. Koch (4 vols., 1887-88) and F. Muncker (6 vols., 1897) . See G. zu Putlitz, Karl Immermann, sein Leben and seine Werke (2 vols., 187o) ; F. Freiligrath, Karl Immermann, Blatter der Erinnerung an ihn (1842) ; H. Mayne, Immermann, Der Mann and sein Werk (Munich, 1921).