Donald A. Prater

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Donald Arthur Prater (born January 6, 1918 in London , † August 24, 2001 in Cambridge ) was an English literary scholar , diplomat and writer .

Life

Prater studied literature and languages in Oxford from 1936 to 1939 , then took part in World War II as a soldier and was a diplomat in the British field service between 1946 and 1969, for example in Singapore (1946–1948), the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–1952), in Beirut (1955–1957), Vienna (1957–1959) and Stockholm (1965–1968). In Singapore in 1947 he came across the English edition of Stefan Zweig's autobiography The World of Yesterday . Deeply impressed by the life of Zweig, especially by his cosmopolitanism , he recognized a certain kinship , which led to the fact that in the 1960s he made the decision to write the life of Zweig. In 1972, European of Yesterday was published in England . A biography of Stefan Zweig . Just in time for Zweig's 100th birthday, the brilliant biography, which was expanded compared to the English edition, was also published in Germany in 1981. Prater dealt with Zweig throughout his life. But his biographies on Rainer Maria Rilke (1986) and Thomas Mann (1995) were also honored by the critics without exception as works from the “noble tradition of the Anglo-Saxons” ( Der Spiegel ). The International Stefan Zweig Society in Salzburg named Prater its honorary president.

Until 1998, Prater lived with his wife Patricia for many years in Gingins , near Geneva , and then spent their retirement years in their English homeland. There he died in Cambridge in 2001 .

Works

  • European of Yesterday. A biography of Stefan Zweig . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972.
  • Stefan Zweig. The life of an impatient . Munich / Vienna: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1981. ISBN 3-7632-2801-2 .
  • Stefan Zweig - life and work in pictures . Edited by Donald A. Prater and Volker Michels . Frankfurt am Main: Insel Taschenbuch, 1981. ISBN 3-458-32232-9 . New edition: Frankfurt am Main: Insel Taschenbuch, 2006. ISBN 978-3-458-34913-6 .
  • A ringing glass: the life of Rainer Maria Rilke . Munich & Vienna: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1986. ISBN 3-446-13362-3 .
  • Stefan Zweig: Correspondence with Hermann Bahr, Sigmund Freud, Rainer Maria Rilke and Arthur Schnitzler . Edited by Jeffrey B. Berlin , Hans-Ulrich Lindken & Donald A. Prater. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag, 1987. ISBN 3-10-097081-0 .
  • Rainer Maria Rilke - Stefan Zweig: Letters and Documents . Edited by Donald A. Prater. Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 1987. ISBN 3-458-14290-8 .
  • Stefan Zweig and the world of yesterday (Viennese lectures in the town hall, volume 30; lecture on February 20, 1992). Vienna: Picus Verlag, 1995. ISBN 3-85452-329-7 .
  • Thomas Mann: A life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-815861-0 .
  • Thomas Mann - German and citizen of the world. A biography . Munich & Vienna: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1995. ISBN 3-446-15363-2 .
Articles in books / catalogs
  • Stefan Zweig and the New World ; in: "ZIRKULAR" (special number 2), ed. from the "Documentation Center for Newer Austrian Literature"; Vienna: October 1981; Pp. 137-163.
  • Ludwig Schwerin : A friendship under the sign of Stefan Zweig ; in: Alfred & Ludwig Schwerin: The annual rings. Youth memories, correspondence, biography . Edited by Helmut Brosch. Buchen: “Between Neckar and Main 25” - series of publications by the Bezirksmuseum Buchen eV association , 1988; Pp. 180-185. ISBN 3-923699-13-1 .
  • “Foreword” for the exhibition catalog “Stefan Zweig. For a Europe of Spirit ” ; ed. by Klemens Renoldner, Hildemar Holl & Peter Karlhuber. Salzburg: Institute for Communication Planning, 1992; S. 11/12. ISBN 3-85450-058-0 .
  • Stefan Zweig and the Vienna of Yesterday ; in: Turn-of-the-Century Vienna and its Legacy (Essays in Honor of Donald G. Daviau); ed. by Jeffrey B. Berlin, Jorun B. Johns, Richard H. Lawson. New York / Vienna: Edition Atelier, 1993. ISBN 3-9003-7984-X (Europe) 0-929497-74-0 (America); Pp. 317-336.
  • Stefan Zweig: European, humanist, Jew ; in: “Time gives the pictures, I only speak the words” - Stefan Zweig 1881-1942 (exhibition book and catalog); ed. by Sabine Kinder and Ellen Presser. Munich: Am Gasteig City Library, 1993; Pp. 18-23.
  • The last witnesses of the third great expulsion of our so-called race: Stefan Zweig in exile ; in: Amy Colins and Elisabeth Strenger (eds.): Bridges over the abyss. Confrontations with Jewish experiences of suffering, anti-Semitism and exile. Festschrift for Harry Zohn . Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1994; Pp. 299-316. ISBN 3-7705-2950-2 .

literature

  • Hans Jörgen Gerlach : "Something has come to an end". On the death of Donald A. Prater ; in: “Zwischenwelt. Journal for the Culture of Exile and Resistance ”, Volume 18, No. 4, Vienna: February 2002; P. 6. ISSN  1606-4321

estate

Prater's important research collection of first editions and materials on Stefan Zweig are in the Adolf Haslinger Literature Foundation .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Prater, Donald A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Prater, Donald Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English literary scholar, diplomat and writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 2001
Place of death Cambridge