Egon Friedell (born as Egon Friedmann on 21 January 1878 in Vienna, died 16 March 1938 in Vienna) was an Austrian author, journalist, actor, cabaret artist and theatre critic .
Friedell was born as the third child of the Jewish silk manufacturer
Moriz Friedmann and his wife Karoline (née Eisenberger). In 1887,
his parents divorced and his mother left the family. After his
father's death in 1891, Friedell lived with his aunt in
Frankfurt am Main, where he attended school until he was expelled
for unruly behaviour two years later. Even at this time, Friedell was
considered a trouble maker and free thinker. He attended several
schools in Austria and Germany, until he finally passed his
abitur at the fourth attempt in Heidelberg in 1899.
In 1897, he had already enrolled as a guest student at
Berlin University, reading German literature, natural sciences and philosophy. After passing his abitur, he enrolled
at Heidelberg University, in order to study under Kuno Fischer, a historian of philosophy and follower of Hegel. In
1897, Friedell converted to the Lutheran faith. In 1899, he
accepted his inheritance, which enabled him to live financially
independently in Vienna.
From 1900 to 1904, Egon Friedell studied philosophy in Vienna
for nine terms. In 1904, he received his PhD for his thesis
Novalis as a Philosopher before starting to perform in a
cabaret. In 1905, he published his article Prejudices in
Karl Kraus's journal Fackel , which includes the following
quote:
- 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...
From 1908 on, Friedell published essays and one-act plays. His
first literary effort was The Paraffin King. The sketch comedy
Goethe made him famous in the German speaking countries. He
also became the director of the cabaret Fledermaus.
- There he stood, Egon Friedell, Doctor of Philosophy, jester of the audience, and like most jesters, far superior to his master. (Felix Salten)
In 1910, Samuel Fischer commissioned Friedell to write a
biography of Peter Altenberg. However, Fischer, who had expected
something light, was unsatisfied by the book titled Ecce poeta, an
analysis and critique of culture. The book, which was not promoted in
any way, was a commercial failure, but marked the beginning of
Friedell's interest in cultural history.
In 1912, Friedell performed in Berlin, and in 1913, he
worked as an actor for Max Reinhardt for a short time. From
1914 on, Friedell suffered from alcoholism and obesity, and had to
undergo treatment at a sanatorium near Munich. Friedell was as
enthusiastic about the beginning of World War I as most of his
contemporaries.
In 1916, he officially changed his family 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. In 1916, Friedell published the Judas Tragedy,
and in 1922, he published Quarry — Miscellaneous Opinions and Quotations. In 1924, a satricial treatment of the journal Stunde ended his work as a critic for this publication: Friedell was fired as a "traitor."
From 1919 to 1924, Friedell worked as a journalist and theatre
critic for various publishers including the Neues Wiener Journal. He also accepted an offer from Max Reinhardt to work as a
dramatic advisor , theatre director and actor for the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and the Burgtheater in Vienna. From 1927 on,
his health problems prevented any permanent commissions, and he worked
as an independent essayist, author and translator in Vienna.
During this time, Friedell wrote the three volumes of his Cultural History of the Modern Age, which describes events from the
Renaissance to the age of imperialism in anecdotes. In
1925, the publisher Hermann Ullstein received the first
volume, but he was suspicious of the historiography of an actor. After
five other publishers had 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. It
has been translated into seven languages.
After the National Socialists came to power in
Germany in 1933, all German and Austrian publishers refused to
publish his works. In 1935, Friedell described the regime as
- 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.
In 1936, the first part of Friedell's Cultural History of Antiquity was published by Helikon in Zurich. Late in 1937,
Friedell's works were confiscated by the National Socialist regime as
they did not conform to the theory of history promoted by the
NSDAP. In February 1938, Friedell's cultural history was
banned in Germany. On the occasion of the Anschluss of Austria,
Friedell told Ödön von Horvath in a letter written on 11 March: "I am always ready to leave, in every sense." Friedell began
thinking about acquiring poison or a pistol.
On 16 March 1938, at about 22:00, two SA men called at
Friedell's house in order to take him away. While they were still
arguing with his housekeeper, Friedell committed suicide by jumping
out of the window. Friedell, of whom Hilde Spiel said "in him, the
exhilarating fiction of the homo universalis rose once
again", was interred in the Zentralfriedhof.
