Horváth, Ödön Edmund von#
b. Rijeka, Croatia (then Fiume), Dec. 9, 1901, d. Paris (France, accident), June 1, 1938, playwright and narrative writer. Son of an Austro-Hungarian diplomat, lived from 1923 in Berlin and Murnau (Bavaria). Because of national socialist reprisals in Vienna between 1933-1938 he emigrated to Paris in March 1938. His plays follow the tradition of Viennese folk plays and the tradition of Austria's "language-sceptical" literature. By unmasking the language of the lower middle-class ("semi-educated jargon") and their behaviour, he exercised above all harsh social criticism and emphasised the position of women as victims. The novels of his late period, "Jugend ohne Gott" ("Godless Youth") and "Ein Kind unserer Zeit" ("A Child of Our Time") deal with the rise of Fascism. awarded the Kleist Prize in 1931.
Further works#
novels and prose: Sportmaerchen (from 1924 in the magazine "Simplicissimus"); Der ewige Spiesser (The Eternal Philistine), 1930. - Dramas: Revolte auf Côte 3018 (Revolts on Coast 3018), 1927 (reissued in 1928 under the title "Die Bergbahn"/"The Mountain Railway"); Sladek, der schwarze Reichswehrmann (Sladek, the Black Reich Soldier), 1930; Ital. Nacht (Italian Night), 1931; Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald, 1931 (Tales from the Vienna Woods, translated in 1977); Kasimir und Karoline, 1932; Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung (Ein Totentanz), (Faith, Hope and Charity) 1932; Die Unbekannte aus der Seine (The Unknown Woman from the Seine), 1933; Hin und Her, 1933; Figaro laesst sich scheiden (The Divorce of Figaro), 1934; Don Juan kommt aus dem Krieg, 1937; Pompeji, 1937; Der juengste Tag (Judgement Day), 1938. - Edition: Collected Works, edited by T. Krischke, 15 vols., 1983-1988.Literature#
T. Krischke (editor), Ueber Oe. v. H., 1981; T. Krischke, H. Eine Biographie, 1988; K. Bartsch, Oe. v. H., 2000; NDB.