Frank Thiess (13 March 1890 – 22 December 1977) was a German

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

Biography

Born in Eluisenstein (now

Ogre Municipality Ogre Municipality () is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2002 by Merger (politics), merging Ogre, Latvia, Ogre town and Ogresgals Parish. In 2009 it absorbed Krape Parish, Ķeipene Parish, Laubere Parish, Madliena ...

), Kreis Riga,

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

), Thiess grew up in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He worked as a journalist before fighting in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Discharged after a few months because of a heart condition, he returned to

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. Within a few years, however. he decided to devote himself full-time to writing. His early novels were focussed on contemporary subjects —

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once called him "the hot trumpet in Germany's jazz age." He married Florence Losey, an American singer. From the 1930s on, he concentrated on

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

s. His 1936 novel, ''Tsushima'', translated into English as ''The Voyage of Forgotten Men'', recounted the journey of the Russian Second Pacific Squadron, under the

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of Admiral Rozhestvensky, from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

to the

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, and its defeat by the Japanese

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at the

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known in Japan as the , was the final naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 27–28 May 1905 in the Tsushima Strait. A devastating defeat for the Imperial Russian Navy, the ...

in 1905. His two-part

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, ''Neapolitanische Legende'' and ''Caruso in Sorrent'', was based on the life and career of the great Italian

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...

. Thiess remained in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during World War II. Thiess died 1977 in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Bibliography

Novels: *''Claudia'' (1913) *''Der Tod von Falern'' (1921) *''Angelika ten Swaart'' (1923) *''Die Verdammten'' (English title: ''The Devil's Shadow''; 1923) *''Das Gesicht des Jahrhunderts, Briefe an Zeitgenossen'' (1923) *''Der Leibheftige'' (English title: ''Design for Living''; 1924) *''Frauenraub'' (English title: ''Interlude''; 1927 - revised as ''Katharina Winter'', 1949) *''Johanna und Esther'' (1933) (revised as ''Gäa'' (1957)) *''Tsushima'' (English title: ''The Voyage of Forgotten Men''; 1936) *''Das Reich der Dämonen'' (1941) *''Neapolitanische Legende'' (English title: ''Neapolitan Legend''; 1942) *''Caruso in Sorrent'' (1946) *''Die Strassen des Labyrinths'' (1951) *''Die griechischen Kaiser'' (1959) *''Gäa'' (1959) *''Sturz nach oben'' (1961)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiess, Frank 1890 births 1977 deaths People from Ogre Municipality People from Riga county People of Baltic German descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany German male novelists Berliner Tageblatt people 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German male writers German Army personnel of World War I Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria