Margot Benary-Isbert

Margot Benary-Isbert (born December 2, 1889 in Saarbrücken ; † May 27, 1979 in Santa Barbara (California) ) was a German-American writer. In 1948 she wrote her first book, Noah's Ark . Many of her works were inspired by her family history. She was the daughter of Adolf Isbert (1858–1938) and the cousin of Otto Albrecht Isbert (1901–1986).

She grew up in Frankfurt am Main and, encouraged by a teacher, began to write as a child. From 1910 to 1917 she worked at the Völkerkundemuseum in Frankfurt. There she met her future husband Wilhelm Benary . After the marriage in 1917, the couple moved to Erfurt , where Margot Benary-Isbert first bred Danish mastiffs, but also other animals during the Second World War. In the period between the world wars, stays at the places where Wilhelm Benary worked; among other things, the family lived temporarily in Berlin. Margot Benary-Isbert fled from the Soviet occupation of Erfurt to a friend on a lonely farm in the Rhön. Inspired by the court and residents, Benary-Isbert wrote Noah's Ark in 1948 and later the Ebereschenhof . In 1952 she emigrated to the USA with her husband. In 1957 she became an American citizen. Many of her books deal with the problems posed by wartime. It is more idyllic in the novel Annegret and Cara , which tells of the friendship between an initially dreamy and somewhat lonely little girl and the mastiff Cara. The backdrop here is the seed shop founded by Ernst Benary in Erfurt , in which the author's husband also worked from time to time, and especially the Haus zur Kröte (today: Brühlerstraße 40) as the residence of the Benninger family of three, which are obviously the Benary couple and their daughter is replicated. "Aunt Igel" also played a supporting role, the nickname of Annemarie Benary, Albert Benary's sister , who also lived in Erfurt.

Several of her youth books were illustrated by the illustrator Walter Rieck .

Works

• Noah's Ark , 1948, English as The Ark , 1952, Swedish as Arken
• The Ebereschenhof , 1949, English as Rowan Farm , 1954, Swedish as Rönngården
• Annegret and Cara , 1951, English as Blue Mystery , 1967
• Girl for everything. Seven years as a secretary at the Ethnographic Museum , 1952
• Shooting star in the snow. Of mountains and stars, skis and all kinds of animals , 1952
• Heiligenwald , 1953, English as A Time to Love , 1962
• Riots in Vogelsang , 1953
• The shooting star , 1954
• Castle on the border , 1956, English as Castle on the Border , also 1956, Swedish as Slottet vid gränsen
• The grandmother and her first grandson , Herder, Freiburg 1957
• I come, Larry , in English as The Long Way Home , 1959
• Dangerous Spring , 1961
• The darkest night , 1964
• Under the crescent moon , English as Under a Changing Moon , 1964
• The Adventure of Aging , 1965
• A cheerful evening crowns the day , 1968
• Grandma and Grandpa are the best , 1968
• These vintege years , 1968
• I'm traveling with my grandchildren , 1971
• Li Tai Pe - The Eternal Seal. A legend about the poet Li Tai Pe , 1972
• The happiness of the ripe years , 1978
• In the house of my grandfather ,

Web links

• Margot Benary-Isbert collection, University of Southern Mississippi
• Margot Benary-Isbert Collection, University of Oregon
• Literature by and about Margot Benary-Isbert in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Guide to the Margot Benary-Isbert Papers 1950-1971
2. ^ Ernst Benary ( Memento from October 28, 2004 in the Internet Archive )