Egon Friedell born Egon Friedmann, 21 January 1878, in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, died 16 March 1938, in Vienna, was a prominent Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n philosopher, historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 performer (Kabarettist) and theatre critic.

Early life

Friedell was the 3rd child of a Jewish silk manufacturer, Moriz Friedmann, and his wife, Karoline (née Eisenberger). After his parents divorced in 1887, Friedell lived with his father. After his father's death in 1891, Friedell lived with his aunt in Frankfurt am Main, where he would attend school, until he was expelled for unruly behaviour two years later. Even at this young age, Friedell was considered a trouble maker and free thinker. He attended several schools in Austria and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, until he finally passed his Abitur

Abitur

Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...

 (exit examination) after four attempts, in Bad Hersfeld

Bad Hersfeld

The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....

 in 1899.

In 1897, prior to his graduation, Friedell had enrolled as a guest student at Berlin University, studying German literature

German literature

German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...

, natural sciences and philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

. It was during this time, that Friedell renounced Judaism and converted to the Lutheran faith. After graduation, he enrolled in Heidelberg University to study under the philosophy historian and follower of Hegel, Kuno Fischer

Kuno Fischer

Kuno Fischer, born Ernst Kuno Berthold Fischer, was a German philosopher, a historian of philosophy and a critic.-Biography:After studying philosophy at Leipzig and Halle,...

. In 1899, he accepted his inheritance enabling him to live financially independently in Vienna.

From 1900 to 1904, Egon Friedell studied German literature and philosophy in Vienna, at the University of Heidelberg. In 1904, he received his PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 for his dissertation; Novalis

Novalis

Novalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg , an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.-Biography:...

 als Philosoph. In 1905, he published the article Prejudices in Karl Kraus

Karl Kraus

Karl Kraus was an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He is regarded as one of the foremost German-language satirists of the 20th century, especially for his witty criticism of the press, German culture, and German and Austrian...

's journal Fackel, which included the following statement:

The worst prejudice we acquire during our youth is the idea that life is serious. Children have the right instincts: they know that life is not serious, and treat it as a game...

An actor, critic, philosopher, and biographer

From 1905 to 1910 Friedell worked as the artistic director of the Vienna cabaret "Fledermaus", named after the Johann Strauss operetta. During this time, Friedell continued to publish essays and one-act plays. His first literary effort was The Paraffin King. The sketch comedy

Sketch comedy

A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

 Goethe (written in collaboration with Alfred Polgar

Alfred Polgar

Alfred Polgar was an Austrian-born journalist, one of the renowned wits of the Vienna coffeehouses. He left Austria in 1938, and later worked in Hollywood.He was known as a drama critic, in Berlin 1925 to 1933, and an essayist...

) in which he also played the leading role, made him famous in German speaking countries.

In 1910, Friedell was commissioned by publisher Samuel Fischer to write a biography of poet Peter Altenberg

Peter Altenberg

Peter Altenberg was a writer and poet from Vienna, Austria. He was key to the genesis of early modernism in the city.-Biography:...

. Fischer, who had expected something light, was unsatisfied with Friedell's analysis and critique of culture titled Ecce poeta, and the books was not promoted in any way. Hence, the book was a commercial failure, but served to mark the beginning of Friedell's interest in cultural history

Cultural history

The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...

.

In 1912, Friedell was performing in cabarets in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and in 1913 worked for as an actor for director, Max Reinhardt

Max Reinhardt

----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...

. In Vienna, Friedell worked as the codirector of Intimes Theater. Friedell also continued writing and developed friendships with nearly all of the major German authors of the period. In 1914, suffering from alcoholism and obesity, Friedell was forced to undergo treatment at a sanatorium

Sanatorium

A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

 near Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

. Friedell was as enthusiastic about the beginning of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, as were many of his contemporaries, and Friedell volunteered for military service but was rejected for physical reasons.

In 1916, he officially changed his name to Friedell. (He had used Friedländer as a pen name for several of his publications, but had not used his family name Friedmann since his student days.) Friedell published the Judas Tragedy in 1916, and in 1922, he published Quarry — Miscellaneous Opinions and Quotations. In 1924, while working as a critic for the journal Stunde, Friedell was fired as a "traitor", for making satirical remarks.

Between 1919 and 1924, Friedell worked as a journalist and theatre critic for various publishers including the Neues Wiener Journal. He also worked as a dramatic advisor, theatre director and actor for director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater

Deutsches Theater

The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...

 in Berlin and the Burgtheater

Burgtheater

The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

 in Vienna.

In addition Friedell's film and literary criticism continued to be published in magazines and newspapers, such as Schaubühne, Fackel, and Neuen Wiener Journal. After 1927, health problems prevented any permanent commissions, and he worked as an independent essayist, editor and translator

Translation

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

 in Vienna. Among the authors Friedell translated were Emerson, Hebbel, Lichtenberg, Carlyle, Hans Christian Andersen, Johann Nestroy, and Macaulay.

The actor as historian

Also during the early 1920s, Friedell wrote the three volumes of his Cultural History of the Modern Age, which describes events from the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 to the age of imperialism

Imperialism

Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...

 in an anecdotal

Anecdote

An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...

 format. For instance, Friedell writes; "All the classifications man has ever devised are arbitrary, artificial, and false, but simple reflection also shows that such classifications are useful, indispensable, and above all unavoidable since they accord with an innate aspect of our thinking." In 1925, publisher Hermann Ullstein received the first volume, but was suspicious of the historiography of an actor. Five other publishers subsequently rejected the book. It was finally published by Heinrich Beck in Munich in 1927. The book proved very successful and allowed Friedell to continue his work as an author and has been translated into seven languages.

In 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Germany, Friedell described the regime as:

"(in) the realm of the Antichrist. Every trace of nobility, piety, education, reason is persecuted in the most hateful and base manner by a bunch of debased menials".

Censorship, persecution, and suicide

In 1937, Friedell's works were banned by the National Socialist regime as they did not conform to the theory of history promoted by the NSDAP, and all German and Austrian publishers refused to publish his works. The first volume of Friedell's A Cultural History of Antiquity, which he failed to complete, was published by Helikon in Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

.

On the occasion of the Anschluss

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

 of Austria, anti-semitism was rampant, Jewish men and women were being beaten in the streets and their businesses and synagogues ransacked or destroyed. Friedell, knowing that he could be arrested by the Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

, began to contemplate ending his own life. Friedell told his close friend, Ödön von Horváth

Ödön von Horváth

Edmund Josef von Horváth was a German-writing Austro-Hungarian-born playwright and novelist...

, in a letter written on 11 March: "I am always ready to leave, in every sense".

On 16 March 1938, at about 22:00, two SA

Sturmabteilung

The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...

 men arrived at Friedell's house to arrest him. While they were still arguing with his housekeeper, Friedell committed suicide by jumping out of the window. Before leaping, he warned pedestrians walking on the sideway where he hit by shouting "Watch out! Get out of the way!".

Friedell, of whom Hilde Spiel said "in him, the exhilarating fiction of the homo universalis

Polymath

A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...

 rose once again", was interred in the Zentralfriedhof

Zentralfriedhof

The Zentralfriedhof is one of the largest cemeteries in the world, largest by number of interred in Europe and most famous cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries.-Name and location:...

 cemetery in Vienna.

Works

• Absinth "Schönheit" (Peter Altenberg & Egon Friedell) - eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria etxt in German)
• Das schwarze Buch (Peter Altenberg & Egon Friedell) - eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria etxt in German)
• Der Petroleumkönig, 1908
• Der Nutzwert des Dichters - eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria etxt in German)
• Goethe, 1908 - eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria etxt in German)
• Ecce poeta, 1912
• Von Dante zu d'Annunzio, 1915
• Die Judastragödie, 1920
• Steinbruch, 1922
• Ist die Erde bewohnt?, 1931 - eLibrary Austria Project (elib austria etxt in German)
• Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit, 1927–31
• Kulturgeschichte Ägyptens und des alten Orients, 1936
• Kulturgeschichte Griechenlands, 1940
• Die Reise mit der Zeitmaschine, 1946 - translated by Eddy C Bertin into English and republished as The Return of the Time Machine
• Kulturgeschichte des Altertums, 1949
• Das Altertum war nicht antik, 1950
• Kleine Porträtgalerie, 1953
• Abschaffung des Genies. Essays bis 1918, 1984
• Selbstanzeige. Essays ab 1918, 1985