Friedrich Torberg


Friedrich Torberg is the pen-name of Friedrich Kantor, an Austrian writer.

Biography

He worked as a critic and journalist in Vienna and Prague until 1938, when his Jewish heritage compelled him to emigrate to France and, later, after being invited by the New York PEN-Club as one of "Ten outstanding German Anti-Nazi-Writers" to the United States, where he worked as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and then for Time magazine in New York City. In 1951 he returned to Vienna, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Torberg is known best for his satirical writings in fiction and nonfiction, as well as his translations into German of the stories of Ephraim Kishon, which remain the standard German language version of Kishon's work. A staunch anti-communist, Torberg used his prominence as a theater critic to boycott Bertolt Brecht's plays in most of Austria for over a decade.
Austrian Olympic swimmer and swimsuit model Hedy Bienenfeld was the inspiration for the character "Lisa" in his novel The Pupil Gerber.

Quotes

Some phrases from Tante Jolesch, which Torberg compiled, have also become well known. Torberg credits the title character as the originator of the following two:
“All cities are the same, only Venice is a little different.”
“What makes a man more beautiful than an ape is a luxury!”

Honours and awards