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Tucholsky
Cet ouvrage ne mentionne aucune indication de date. 19x11x1cm.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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April 5, 2016
Very little of Tucholsky’s writing has been translated into English and that which has provides an incomplete picture of his broad scope of styles and subjects. When I try to describe him to my American friends, I ask them to envision a writer whose style roughly evokes elements of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, H.L. Mencken, James Thurber, P.G. Wodehouse, Philip Roth, Christopher Hitchens and a prototypical chanson lyricist. His primary influences included Schopenhauer, Freud, Kierkegaard, the Swiss poet Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Ibsen, Tolstoy, and Hamsun. Tucholsky was, to paraphrase Duke Ellington, “beyond category.” His adult life encompassed the period from just prior to the beginning of World War I through beginning of the Third Reich. To me he is endlessly fascinating.
Anyone who has perused a German bookstore is familar with the Rowolt RoRoRo monograph biographies. This one has the feel of a college term paper—albeit a very good one—but it falls short in telling the story of Tucholsky’s life. Instead it threads together a number of his writings, mostly selections from Die Weltbühne (in its early years, Die Schaubühne), for which Tucholsky wrote from 1913 through its last issue on January 17, 1933—less than two weeks before Hitler took power in Germany—writing under his own name and four pseudonyms. The author rightly notes that in death Tucholsky enjoyed much greater success and reverence than he ever dreamed of during his lifetime. Hopefully the biography I have in the queue will answer many of the questions this book never asked.
Anyone who has perused a German bookstore is familar with the Rowolt RoRoRo monograph biographies. This one has the feel of a college term paper—albeit a very good one—but it falls short in telling the story of Tucholsky’s life. Instead it threads together a number of his writings, mostly selections from Die Weltbühne (in its early years, Die Schaubühne), for which Tucholsky wrote from 1913 through its last issue on January 17, 1933—less than two weeks before Hitler took power in Germany—writing under his own name and four pseudonyms. The author rightly notes that in death Tucholsky enjoyed much greater success and reverence than he ever dreamed of during his lifetime. Hopefully the biography I have in the queue will answer many of the questions this book never asked.
Displaying 1 of 1 review