Frederic Prokosch

Frederic Prokosch (* 17th May 1908 in Madison , Wisconsin ; † 6. June 1989 in Grasse (Quartier "Le Plan"), the Alpes-Maritimes ) was an American writer, novels, poetry, literary translations and essays published .

Life

Frederic Prokosch was a son of the German-Bohemian émigré and professor of German studies at Yale University , Eduard Prokosch (1876–1938).

Frederic Prokosch completed his academic training at Haverford College and the British King's College of Cambridge University , which he graduated with an MA in 1926 and 1937 . At Yale University, he received his doctorate in 1933 for Dr. phil.

During the Second World War , Frederic Prokosch was cultural attaché at the US embassies in Portugal and Sweden . After the war ended in 1945, he stayed in Europe and met many of his contemporary literary celebrities, whom he later described in his memoirs , and became a well-known author of travel and adventure novels.

In 1968 he sold his literary inventory, including self-printed books with his own and third-party works, the so-called Butterfly Books . It later emerged that the dates in these printed products were incorrect and that Prokosch had only had them made shortly before they were sold.

reception

Frederik Prokosch's novels The Asiatics and The Seven Who Fled were bestsellers in the 1930s and received praise from European writers such as Thomas Mann and André Gide . Klaus Mann , who praised The Asiatics , met Prokosch as a teenager. In almost all of his books he anticipated topics that were taken up again after the end of the Second World War in 1945 by the representatives of the so-called Beat Generation . The novels seldom have a plot and plot in the conventional sense, but rather describe the unsteady and aimless wandering of their main characters, e.g. B. through Asia, as in The Asians and Seven on the Flight or through the American continent as in The Night of the Poor and in America, my wilderness . His lively and extremely sensual writing style and the metaphysical considerations that are woven into his stories established his reputation as a romantic of the 20th century.

The publication of his autobiography Voices: A Memoir in 1984 brought Prokosch again media attention and sales success. His earlier bestsellers appeared in new editions.

Most of Frederic Prokosch's literary estate is in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin .

Awards

• Harper Prize in Literature for his novel The Seven Who Fled

Publications

• America, my wilderness. Roman ("America, my Wilderness"). Ullstein, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-550-06234-6 .
• The Asians. Roman ("The Asiatics"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1988, ISBN 3-499-12367-3 .
• The metaphysical piazza. A book of encounters ("Voices. A Memoir"). Verlag R. Piper, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-492-02868-3 (memoirs).
• The night of the poor. Roman ("Night of the Poor"). Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1949.
• Nine days to Mukalla. Roman ("Nine Days to Mukalla"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1960.
• Seven on the run. Roman ("The Seven Who Fled"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1988, ISBN 3-499-12304-5 .
• Storm and Echo. Roman ("Storm and Echo"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1952.
• And the marble shines cold. A novel about the Taj Mahal ("The dark dancer"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1966.

literature

• Josef Weinmann: Egerländer Biographical Lexicon with selected people from the former Reg.Bez. Eger, Vol. 2, Männedorf / ZH 1978, ISBN 3-922808-123 , p. 74
• Volksbote 19, 1968
• Peter Max: Frederic Prokosch, a romantic of the 20th century. With special consideration of the novels "The Asiatics" and "The Seven Who Fled" . Schellenberg, Winterthur 1969 (also dissertation, University of Zurich).
• Radcliffe Squires: Frederic Prokosch . Twayne Publishers, New York 1964 (Twayne's authors series; 61).

Web links

• Literature by and about Frederic Prokosch in the catalog of the German National Library
• IMDb entry for his only screenplay, a film adaptation of his 1944 novel The Conspirators

Individual references, footnotes

1. ↑ New York Times page 17 of August 12, 1938: "Prokosch of Yale Is Killed in Crash."
2. ↑ Frederic Prokosch in the Notable Names Database (English)
3. ^ University of Delaware Library: Forging a Collection
4. ↑ Klaus Mann, Der Wendpunkt, Rowohlt, 2019, p. 269