Fannie Hurst
Fannie Hurst (born October 19, 1889 in Hamilton , Ohio , † February 23, 1968 in New York City ) was an American writer and journalist at the beginning of the 20th century. She became known through a large number of novels and short stories , some of which were made into films with great success. Her most famous works include Back Street , Imitation of Life and Humoresque .
Life
Fannie Hurst grew up in St. Louis as the second child of a German - Jewish immigrant family . Her older sister died in an accident. Her father, Samuel Hurst, emigrated to America in the 1860s and became a successful shoe manufacturer. Her mother, Rose Koppel, grew up on a farm in Ohio.
Fannie's upbringing was closely monitored by her parents. She was considered precocious and extremely intelligent. In high school she began writing and handed their stories in national newspapers, among others, in The Saturday Evening Post and Reedy's Mirror . In 1909 Hurst received her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis and the following year she celebrated her first literary success with the publication of the story It's not Wonderful Life . Against her parents' wishes, she went to New York City to study at Columbia University . Without financial support from her parents, Hurst worked as a nanny, waitress and sold short stories to various magazines. In 1915 she secretly married the Russian pianist Jacque Danielson (1885–1952), the marriage only became public knowledge around 1920. In the 1930s she had a long affair with the Canadian polar explorer Vilhjálmur Stefánsson .
Hurst was one of the first members of the women's organization Lucy Stone League , founded by Ruth Hale , whose aim, among other things, was that women can keep their maiden name after marriage. Among the co-founders were Jane Grant , wife of Harold Ross , and Beatrice Kaufman , wife of the playwright George Simon Kaufman . Other members were Neysa McMein , Janet Flanner , Franklin Pierce Adams , Solita Solano , Anita Loos and Blanche Oelrichs . In the following years she was involved with her friend Eleanor Roosevelt in several social organizations, including the National Urban League , National Advisory Committee , Works Progress Administration and the World Health Organization ( English World Health Organization , WHO ).
Fannie Hurst died at the age of 78 after a short illness in her apartment in the Hotel des Artistes in New York City. After the news of her death, the New York Times published an obituary on its first page. Between 1909 and 1968, Hurst wrote eighteen novels and more than 300 short stories, as well as plays, scripts, memoirs, essays and newspaper articles. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages, and between 1918 and 1961 her stories and novels became the literary source of nearly 30 films.
Imitation of Life was first filmed in 1934 with Claudette Colbert under the title Imitation of Life and again in 1959 under the same title with Lana Turner in the lead role. Further adaptations were made, for example, of Back Street ( 1932 , 1941 , 1961) , Four Daughters ( 1938 ) Five and Ten (1931) and of Humoreske (1920, 1946 ).
Works (selection)
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Film adaptations (selection)
- 1932: Sideways of Life (Back Street) - Directed by John M. Stahl
- 1938: Father Conducts (Four Daughters) - Director: Michael Curtiz
- 1941: side street (Backstreet) - Director: Robert Stevenson
- 1946: Humoresque (Humoresque) - Director: Jean Negulesco
- 1954: You Shouldn't Play With Love (Young at Heart) - Director: Gordon Douglas
- 1958: As long as there are people (Imitation of Life) - Director: Douglas Sirk
- 1960: Paris terminus (Back Street) - Director: David Miller
literature
- Susan Koppelman: The Stories of Fannie Hurst. The Feminist Press at Cuny, 2004, ISBN 1-55861-483-4 .
- Brooke Kroeger: Fannie: The Talent for Success of Writer Fannie Hurst. Crown Publishing Group, 1999, ISBN 0-8129-2497-5 .
- Fannie Hurst: Anatomy of Me: A Wonderer in Search of Herself. Doubleday, New York 1958, ISBN 0-405-12843-6 .
- Gísli Pálsson : Traveling Passions: The Hidden Life Of Vilhjalmur Stefansson. University Press of New England, Lebanon 2005, ISBN 1-58465-510-0 .
- Robert Shulman: Romany Marie: The Queen of Greenwich Village. Butler Books, Louisville 2006, ISBN 1-884532-74-8 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Fannie Hurst in the catalog of the German National Library
- The Stories of Fannie Hurst (English)
- Biography - Fannie Hurst (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hurst, Fannie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 19, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamilton , Ohio , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 23, 1968 |
| Place of death | New York City , New York , United States |