CONFESSIONS OF A EUROPEAN INTELLECTUAL

by Franz Schoenberner ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 1945

Lively, ""monologue"" autobiography, personal and professional, as the ex-editor of Jugend, Simplicissimus etc. gives a picture of the cultural, literary, artistic circles of Germany during the two decades before the deluge of war. A critic, even in childhood, exposed to the new trends in thought and writing, victim of a youthful snobbism, he was no hero in the last war, and through chance entered the Musa Press as general handyman at the war's end. Then, with the publishing of de luxe editions, foreign titles, he transferred to Auslandspost, then to Jugend, Simplicissimus, radio, and so on. There is a sense of isolation in these circles, of disbelief in the early threat of Hitlerism, of the too late but nonetheless strong opposition, when the threat was recognized in all its evil....and it was no longer possible for the pen to be mightier than the sword. Here also is appraisal of Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Lawrence, Freud, Nietzche; here is mental traveling as well as physical; odd, memorable personalities of the world the author knew. The author escaped to America with the dissolution of Simplicissimus in 1933 -- and there his story ends. No expert tracing of forces at work, but personal reminiscing on the quality of one element in his country before the world was involved in tragedy. Of limited and definitely literary appeal.

Pub Date: April 2, 1945

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1945

Categories: NONFICTION