Frederick Schiller Faust

Frederick Schiller Faust (born May 29, 1892 in Seattle , † May 12, 1944 in Italy ) was an American writer and screenwriter , mainly in the western genre .

He wrote under various pseudonyms such as: Max Brand, George Owen Baxter, Martin Dexter, Evin Evans, David Manning, Peter Dawson, John Frederick and Pete Morland, as well as under his maiden name. In German-speaking countries, his works were published exclusively under the pseudonym Max Brand .

biography

Frederick Schiller Faust was the son of Gilbert Leander Faust and Elizabeth Faust, nee Uriel. Both parents died shortly after he was born. He grew up in California and made a living as a drover. He later attended Berkeley University , where he also began writing. As an unadjusted and rebellious student, he was not admitted to the exams, whereupon he dropped out and instead began to travel extensively. His passion for travel remained with him throughout his life.

In the 1910s, Faust published his first short stories in pulp magazines . His request to join the First World War as a soldier was rejected by the US Army. In 1917 he married Dorothy Schillig and the couple had two children. His writing work in different genres became more intense and he began to make a name for himself as a short story writer. It was around this time that he invented the western characters Destry and Dr. Kildare who became iconic characters in film, radio, television and comics. Hollywood became aware of him, around 1930 Warner Brothers hired him as a screenwriter. He was one of the most successful and best paid authors of his time. Several of his novels and short stories were filmed in Hollywood, for example his novel Destry Rides Again in 1939 with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in the leading roles (German title: The Great Bluff ). In 1950, the film version Smoking Pistols ( Singing Guns ) was published.

Even so, Faust was not satisfied with the great commercial success of his writing. Under his birth name he published poems and "serious" literature, but these were hardly noticed. This affected the author, who was already suffering from health problems, very much, he began to drink and became an alcoholic . In 1938 he traveled to Italy to die there. In Italy, Faust found new courage to live, he was active in sports, moved into a large villa in Florence and began to write again.

With the outbreak of World War II , Faust insisted on being actively involved in the United States despite his age and became a war correspondent. The author, still very popular, was a welcome companion for the American soldiers. On one of these excursions, Faust died in a hail of bullets in a gun battle with German soldiers.

Frederick Schiller Faust is one of the most productive and popular American writers of his time. During his lifetime he published over 900 short stories and novels. Alongside Zane Gray , he is still one of the most famous and successful western authors of the 20th century.

Works (selection)

• Black jack .
  • German: The black Jack . Heyne, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-453-20227-9 .
• The border bandit .
  • German: The border bandit . Heyne, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-20405-0 .
• Bull hunter .
  • German: The giant with the fast Colt . Heyne, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-453-20494-8 .
• Marble-Face .
  • German: His last fight . Knaur, Berlin 1939.
• The night horseman .
  • German: Shots in the night . Heyne, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-453-20435-2 .
• Singing guns .
  • German: The sheriff's friend . Knaur, Berlin 1939.
• Storm on the range .
  • German: The secret of the sheep farmer . Heyne, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-453-20482-4 .
• The trail to San Triste .
  • German: The way to San Triste . Heyne, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-453-20583-9 .
• The white wolf .
  • German: The white wolf . Fleig Verlag, Mürlenbach 1982, ISBN 3-924008-05-01 .
• Wild freedom .
  • German: lonely like the gray wolf . Heyne, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-453-20539-1 .

literature

• Robert Easton: Max Brand. The big "Westerner" . University Press, Norman, Okl. 1970, ISBN 0-8061-0870-3 .
• William F. Nolan: Max Brand, western giant. The life and times of Frederick Schiller Faust . University Press, Bowling Green, Ohio 1986, ISBN 0-87972-291-6 .
• Jan Tuska (Ed.): The Max Brand Companion . Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1996, ISBN 0-313-29750-9 .

Web links

• www.maxbrandonline.com (English)
• Max Brand in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Literature by and about Frederick Schiller Faust in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Frederick Schiller Faust in the Gutenberg-DE project