Max Letteris
Max Letteris , actually: Meir Halevi Letteris (born September 1 . Jul / 13. September 1800 greg. In Zhovkva , Galicia ; † 19th May 1871 in Vienna ) was an on Hebrew writing Jewish writer, poet, literary scholar and Orientalist . In 1863 he wrote a Hebrew adaptation of Goethe's " Faust " .
Life
Letteris came from a Galician printer family. He studied philosophy and oriental studies at the University of Lemberg from 1826 to 1830 . He then went to Vienna in 1831 and took over the literary management of the oriental printing works of the book printer Anton Edler von Schmid .
From 1840 to 1848 Letteris lived in Prague , where he received his Dr. phil. received his doctorate and headed the oriental Hof-Buchdruckerei G. Haase's Söhne. Then he went back to Vienna, where he made friends with the poet Ludwig August Frankl von Hochwart (1810-1894) and the Protestant theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813-1890). For a short time he worked as a librarian in the Imperial Court Library. In 1861 Letteris opened its own printing house.
On behalf of the " British and Foreign Bible Society " ( London ) he published a Bible edition that is still used today. He was also the editor of the “Wiener Vierteljahrsschrift” with a Hebrew section, “Abne Nezer” and the “Wiener monthly papers for art and literature” .
Since 1848 he has also published the Austrian Central Organ for Freedom of Belief, Culture, History and Literature of the Jews in Vienna (bi-monthly, apologetically).
Works
Letteris was one of the leading writers of the 1860s and 1870s. His most important works include “Dibre Shir” , original poems and translations from 1822, and “Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar” from 1824. He caused the greatest sensation in Hebrew reading circles in 1865 with “Ben Abuja, one of the artistic laws and The poetry of Faust by Goethe corresponding to the spirit of Hebrew poetry ” , which replaces Faustus the renegade Mishnah scholar Elisha ben Abuja . Letteris relied more on a reinterpretation into the symbolic. The work also sparked a widespread debate on issues relating to modern Hebrew literature and translation techniques, in which Letteris et al. a. was sharply attacked by Peretz Smolenskin .
Letteris was a co-author of the Sippurim saga collection .
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Letteris, Max . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 15th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1866, pp. 17–20 ( digitized version ).
- Carl Gustav Adolf Siegfried: Letteris, Max . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, p. 461.
- Samuel Meisels: Goethe's “Faust” in Hebrew, in: Jahrbuch Deutscher Bibliophilen (12th / 13th year) 1925/1926, ed. v. Hans Feigl. Zurich: Amalthea-Verlag 1927, pp. 94–98. Under the title “Faust”, the other, in the costume of holiness again in: Kalonymos. Contributions to German-Jewish history from the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute , Duisburg, issue 4, 2007, pp. 21–23 ( PDF )
- Muneles: Letteris Meir (Max) ha-levi. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1972, p. 159 f. (Direct links on p. 159 , p. 160 ).
Web links
- Literature by and about Max Letteris in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature list in the online catalog of the Berlin State Library
- Works by and about Max Letteris in the German Digital Library
- Biography in "Jewish Encyclopedia"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Date according to "Jewish Encyclopedia". Other sources also cite August 30, 1800.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Letteris, Max |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Letteris, Meir Halevi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jewish author, literary scholar and orientalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 13, 1800 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zolkiew , Galicia |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 19, 1871 |
| Place of death | Vienna |