Weiß, Ernst#
Weiss, Ernst, b. Brno, Czech Republic (then Bruenn), Aug. 28, 1884, d. Paris (France, suicide), June 14, 1940. Narrative writer, dramatist, essayist and translator. Studied surgery in Berne and Berlin, from 1911 in Vienna, then ship's surgeon of the Austrian Lloyd; friendship with F. Kafka, during World War I military physician, 1920-1933 free-lance writer in Berlin, exile in Paris1934, committed suicide in 1940 upon invasion by German troops. His early novels are marked by expressionist emotionalism ("Die Galeere", 1913; "Tiere in Ketten", 1918); later turned to New Objectivity ("Der Fall Vukobrankovics", 1924) and explored the origins of National Socialism ("Der Gefaengnisarzt oder Die Vaterlosen", 1934). His most successful book was the novel about Hitler "Der Augenzeuge" (1963) published posthumously.
Further works#
Poems, novels, narratives, dramas, essays. Edition: Gesammelte Werke, 16 vols., publ. by P. Engel and V. Michels, 1982.Literature#
P. Engel (ed.), E. W., 1982; F. Haas, Der Dichter von der traurigen Gestalt. Zu Leben und Werk von E. W., 1986; R. Mielke, Das Boese als Krankheit. Entwurf einer neuen Ethik im Werk von E. W., 1986; M. Pazi, E. W., 1993.