Friedrich Torberg (16 September 1908, Vienna, Alsergrund – 10 November 1979, Vienna) is the pen-name of Friedrich Kantor, an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...

Biography

He worked as a critic and journalist in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

until 1938, when his Jewish heritage compelled him to emigrate to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and, later, after being invited by the New York PEN-Club as one of "Ten outstanding German Anti-Nazi-Writers" (along with

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; 27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German author known for his socio-political novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of ''The Forty ...

, Alfred Döblin, Leonhard Frank,

Alfred Polgar Alfred Polgar (originally: Alfred Polak) 17 October 1873, Vienna – 24 April 1955, Zurich) was an Austrian-born columnist, theater critic, writer and occasionally translator. All in all, he was one of the most important protagonists of the ...

, and others) to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, where he worked as a scriptwriter in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

and then for

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New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. In 1951 he returned to Vienna, where he remained for the rest of his life. Torberg is known best for his satirical writings in fiction and nonfiction, as well as his translations into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

of the stories of

Ephraim Kishon Ephraim Kishon (: August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was a Hungarian-born Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and Oscar-nominated film director. He was one of the most widely read contemporary satirists in Israel, and was also particu ...

, which remain the standard German language version of Kishon's work. Austrian Olympic swimmer and swimsuit model Hedy Bienenfeld was the inspiration for the character "Lisa" in his novel ''The Pupil Gerber'' (''Der Schüler Gerber'').

Honours and awards

* Julius-Empire Award (1933) * Title of Professor (1958) * City of Vienna Prize for Journalism (1966) * Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1968) * Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (1968) * Gold Medal of the Austrian capital Vienna (1974) * Richard Champion Medal (1974) * Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (1976) * Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature (1979) * Naming of Torberggasse in Penzing (Vienna 14th District) (1981)

Selected works

* ''Der Schüler Gerber hat absolviert'' (1930) (this semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a grammar school student under the oppression of a tyrannical teacher); later editions bore the shortened title ''Der Schüler Gerber'', under which the novel is now generally known. * ''… und glauben, es wäre die Liebe'' (1932) * ''Süsskind von Trimberg''. Roman. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1972, (fictitious biography) * '' Die Tante Jolesch oder Der Untergang des Abendlandes in Anekdoten'' (1975) (a collection of amusing yet bittersweet

anecdote An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous ...

s about Jewish life and personalities in pre-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

Vienna and Prague, and in the emigration), translated by Maria Poglitsch Bauer and Sonat Hart, Ariadne Press, 2008, . * ''Die Erben der Tante Jolesch'' (1978) (the sequel to the above)

References

External links

* http://www.forward.com/articles/13829/ (Coffee talk: Reading Friedrich Torberg's Masterpiece)
Recordings with Friedrich Torberg
in the Online Archive of the Österreichische Mediathek (in German). Retrieved 29 July 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Torberg, Friedrich 1908 births 1979 deaths People from Alsergrund 20th-century Austrian writers Austrian translators Translators to German Austrian expatriates in Czechoslovakia Austrian emigrants to France French emigrants to the United States Jewish Austrian writers Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art Recipients of the Grand Austrian State Prize 20th-century translators People from Prague Austrian magazine founders

Biography

Honours and awards

Selected works

Further reading

References

External links