Frank, Leonhard

Frank, Leonhard (lā`ônhärt frängk), 1882–1961, German expressionist writer. He gained acclaim with his first novel, The Robber Band (1914, tr. 1928), and it was followed by such works as The Cause of the Crime (1920, tr. 1928), A Middle-Class Man (1924, tr. 1930), and Carl and Anna (1927, tr. 1929), his best-known novel, which he dramatized in 1929. In the Last Coach (1925, tr. 1935) is a volume of short stories. His writing is psychological in approach, antiwar, and shows a compassion for victims of an authoritarian society. Frank fled Germany in 1933 and did not return until after World War II.