Jakob Wassermann


Jakob Wassermann was a German writer and novelist.
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Life

Born in Fürth, Wassermann was the son of a shopkeeper and lost his mother at an early age. He showed literary interest early and published various pieces in small newspapers. Because his father was reluctant to support his literary ambitions, he began a short-lived apprenticeship with a businessman in Vienna after graduation.
He completed his military service in Würzburg. Afterward, he stayed in southern Germany and in Zürich. In 1894, he moved to Munich where he worked as a secretary and later as a copy editor at the paper Simplicissimus. Around this time he also became acquainted with other writers such as Rainer Maria Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Thomas Mann.
In 1896, he released his first novel, Melusine.
From 1898 on he was a theater critic in Vienna. In 1901, he married Julie Speyer, whom he divorced in 1915. Three years later, he married again and wedded Marta Karlweis.
After 1906, he alternated between Vienna and Altaussee in Styria.
In 1926, he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts. He resigned in 1933, narrowly avoiding expulsion by the Nazis. In the same year, his books were banned in Germany owing to his Jewish ancestry.
He died on 1 January 1934 at his home in Altaussee of a heart attack.
Wassermann's work includes poetry, essays, novels, and short stories. His most important works are considered the novel The Maurizius Case and the autobiography, My Life as German and Jew, in which he discussed the tense relationship between his German and Jewish identities.

Works

Melusine Die Juden von Zirndorf ''Schläfst du, Mutter? Die Geschichte der jungen Renate Fuchs Der Moloch Der niegeküsste Mund Die Kunst der Erzählung Alexander von Babylon Donna Johanna von Castilien Die Schwestern Caspar Hauser oder Die Trägheit des Herzens Die Gefangenen auf der Plassenburg Die Masken Erwin Reiners Der goldene Spiegel Geronimo de Aguilar Faustina Der Mann von vierzig Jahren Das Gänsemännchen Christian Wahnschaffe Die Prinzessin Girnara, Weltspiel und Legende
  • "Golowin" Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude Imaginäre Brücken Sturreganz Ulrike Woytich Faber, oder die verlorenen Jahre Laudin und die Seinen Das Amulett Der Aufruhr um den Junker Ernst Das Gold von Caxamalca Columbus: Don Quixote of the Seas Selbstbetrachtungen
  • Novel trilogy:
  • * Der Fall Maurizius
  • * Etzel Andergast
  • * ''Joseph Kerkhovens dritte Existenz''

Filmography