The Büttnerbauer is one of the most well-known works of Wilhelm von Polenz. Coming from an old Saxon noble family, von Polenz initially studied law before dedicating himself to writing. He maintained a friendly correspondence with writers Émile Zola and Leo Tolstoy, which also influenced his works. In The Büttnerbauer, von Polenz not only describes the life of the Büttner family and their loss of the family farm due to economic hardship, but also portrays the situation of the entire peasantry at that time and the rising anti-Semitism in Germany. This is a revised reprint of the original edition from 1905.