Rudolf Herzog

He was highly popular as a novelist among the German middle class in the period before World War II, expressing Wilhelmian ideals and portraying artists and industrial families.

He participated in artists' circles in Düsseldorf, was trained as a colour technician in Elberfeld and attended philosophy lectures in Berlin and Frankfurt before he was able to pursue a career as a writer and journalist.

In the period before World War II, he was highly read among the German middle class, reaching a total circulation of around seven million sold books.

[2] According to the Neue Deutsche Biographie, Herzog's works reflect the ideals of Wilhelmian Germany.

The Neue Deutsche Biographie writes that these books are reminiscent of Wilhelm II in their language, by blending "sentimentality and harshness, pomp and gentleness",[2] and places them "in the no man's land between trivial literature and poetry".