Max Mell (1882–1971) was an Austrian writer. He wrote plays, novels and screenplays. He was born in

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

, then part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

but now in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. He studied at Vienna University, and served in the Austrian military during World War I. In 1914 he won the Bauernfeld Prize, and in 1929 he was awarded the

Franz Grillparzer Prize The Franz Grillparzer Prize was a literary award, named after the writer Franz Grillparzer. It was established in 1872, shortly after his death, by his lover, Katharina Fröhlich. After her death in 1879, the award was continued by a donation to th ...

. Culturally conservative, in 1951 he tried to counter what he regarded as

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

distortions of the epic ''

Nibelungenlied The (, or ; or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germanic hero ...

'' with a more faithful reading of the original text.McConnell p.136 In 1959 he was given the

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Orders, decorations, and medals of Austria, Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian Decoration for Science a ...

References

Bibliography

* Winder McConnell. ''A Companion to the Nibelungenlied''. Camden House, 1998.

External links

* 1882 births 1971 deaths Writers from Maribor Austrian male dramatists and playwrights Austrian male novelists 20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Austrian novelists 20th-century Austrian male writers 20th-century Austrian screenwriters {{Austria-writer-stub