Barthold Fles


Barthold "Bart" Fles was a Dutch-American literary agent, author, translator, editor and publisher. Among his many clients were Elias Canetti, Raymond Loewy, Heinrich Mann, Joseph Roth, Felix Salten, Ignazio Silone, Bruno Walter and Arnold Zweig.

Early life and education

Barthold Fles was born in Amsterdam into an assimilating Jewish family. His father, Louis Fles, was a successful businessman and an activist against religion. Barthold had a tense relationship with his father, who wanted him into his business, while the young Fles was mostly interested in reading. Barthold read in Dutch, German, English, and French, anytime and at a tremendous pace. He studied business at a vocational school and found employment at De Lange publishers.
In 1923 he left for the United States. In New York Fles found temporary employment as a violinist, painting apartments, selling vacuum cleaners and working for publishers.

Literary agency

In 1933, he established a literary agency in Manhattan, New York. Initially many of his clients were German refugees and other foreign authors. He organized evenings for these authors in New York, in order to get them acquainted with the American book market. From the 1940s onwards most of his clientele was from the United States.
Fles was a special figure in the lives of many of his clients. He kept closely in touch, encouraged his authors to concentrate on their art, and arranged fellowships with literary funds. Still, some clients moved on to larger agencies, or were later represented by publishing houses, lawyers, or by themselves, often after long relationships. An exception was Anaïs Nin who left him soon after she joined his client circle, citing unorganized business conduct as a reason. "Bonjour, friend, and good-bye, literary agent", she wrote to him. In biographical notes on Fles, however, she stated that he had refused to take on her boyfriend Henry Miller. Miller himself also had hard feelings, calling Fles dishonest and part of the publishing establishment. Fles was influential during several decades in getting blacklisted authors published.
Barthold Fles wrote two juvenile books: Slavonic rhapsody: the life of Antonín Dvořák under the pseudonym Jan van Straaten and East Germany. He also wrote introductions to compilations and many articles and translated several books from German to English. Among the translations was another children's book, Bambi's Children by Felix Salten. His non-fictional writings and his translations received considerable praise, except for his book on Germany. This book was clearly outside his expertise and sealed his writing for publication, set aside an intro to More by Dell Shannon, by his prolific client Elizabeth Linington.

Personal and legacy

In 1936 Barthold married Ruth Grünwald, a dancer at the Metropolitan Opera who had been just one year in the United States. Ruth assisted Barthold at his literary agency. Later she left him.
In 1986, at the age of 84, Fles closed his agency. Subsequently, he returned to his native Netherlands, where he spent his last three years in Laren's Rosa Spier home for retired artists. At Rosa Spier he was approached by Madeleine Rietra, a Dutch expert on German literature, who posthumously published his letter exchange with clients Joseph Roth and Heinrich Mann, along with commentaries and biographical notes.
Barthold Fles, a diabetic for several decades, died on December 19, 1989, aged 87.

Clients

Books

Written

These German Exilliteratur poetry books were published by Barthold Fles Verlag, New York
  • 1941 - Max Herrmann-Neisse: Letzte Gedichte
  • 1941 - Berthold Viertel: Fürchte dich nicht! Neue Gedichte
  • 1942 - Hans Sahl: Der hellen Nächte, Gedichte Aus Frankreich
  • 1942 - Max Hermann-Neisse: Mir bleibt mein Lied, Auswahl aus unveröffentlichten Gedichten

    Articles

Written

  • 1928-09-15 - Chávez lights new music with old fires. Musical America 48 : 5 & 21.
  • 1932-05-18 - The Nation 134 : 576.
  • 1934-07-04 - Now as a Story Teller. The New Republic: 216.
  • 1935-03-10 - The New York Times: BR 8 & ?.
  • 1935-10-27 - The New York Times: BR 8 & ?.
  • 1935-12-24 - The New York Times: 61.
  • 1935-11-02 - The Saturday Review of Literature 8 : 12.
  • 1936 - Story 9: 8, 101-102.
  • 1936-08-23 - The New York Times: BR 8.
  • 1945-07-28 - Publishers Weekly: 307.
  • 1950-06-04 - The New York Times: BR 11.
  • 1951-10 and 11 - The Literary Agent. The Writer 64 : 319-323, : 361-365.

    Translated

  • 1935 - Nettie Sutro: Biographical Note on the author in Ignazio Silone: Mr. Aristotle

    Biography

  • Madeleine Rietra: "Der New Yorker Literaturagent Barthold Fles als Vermittler zwischen der alten und neuen Welt " in Batts MS : Alte Welten - neue Welten, Akten des IX. Kongresses der Internationale Vereinigung für Germanische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996, p. 164..
  • Madeleine Rietra: "Heinrich Mann/Barthold Fles: Autor/Agent" in Würzner H, Kröhnke K : Deutsche Literatur im Exil in den Niederlanden 1933-1940. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994, p 151-162..
  • Els Andringa : "". Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, volume 128, p. 276.