Correspondence with Alma Mahler, Franz Werfel, and Adolf Klarmann 1940-1979.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Torberg, Friedrich, 1908-1979.

Contributor:

Torberg, Marietta.

Arlt, Gustave O. (Gustave Otto), 1895-1986.

Hiltbrunner, Hermann.

Broch, Hermann, 1886-1951.

Language:

English

German

Physical Description:

124 items (263 leaves)

Contained In:

Mahler-Werfel Papers. Folders 1226-1232

Place of Publication:

1940-1979.

Language Note:

In German and English.

Biography/History:

A native of Prague, Friedrich Torberg (1908-1979) had been professionally active as a writer and journalist in Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna; his books were banned by the Nazis in 1933. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1938 and to France in 1939. From there he took a path similar to that of Franz Werfel and Alma Mahler, fleeing to Spain and Portugal, and then finally succeeding in emigrating to the U.S., arriving in New York City at the end of 1940. He had been acquainted with Werfel in passing in Vienna and then had encountered Werfel and Alma Mahler in Portugal in 1940. In 1941 Torberg moved to California and quickly became a close friend of both Franz and Alma, remaining so over the years; Torberg moved back to New York in 1944. Marietta Torberg (née Bellak) was Friedrich's wife; they married in 1945. The Torbergs returned to Vienna in 1951. Arlt was a professor of German at UCLA and a good from of Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel; Torberg communicated with Arlt upon hearing of Werfel's death. Hermann Hiltbrunner (1893-1961) was a Swiss writer who published an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung about Werfel and Rilke; he was the addressee of a letter from Torberg in response. The Österreichische Furche was a weekly Catholic newspaper based in Vienna, which published an article about Werfel on the 10th anniversary of his death; Torberg wrote a letter to the editor in response. Lorenz was apparently the author of the article in the Österreichische Furche and responded to Torberg about it. Broch was a friend of Alma Mahler; she shared with him a proposal written by Torberg about a film adaptation of Werfel's novel Der Stern der Ungeborenen, after a film agent had rejected it; Torberg subsequently corresponded with both Alma and Broch about his objections to Alma's involving Broch in the matter.

Summary:

Some of Torberg's letters to Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel have been published in the collection Liebste Freundin und Alma: Briefwechsel mit Alma Mahler-Werfel, nebst einigen Briefen an Franz Werfel ed. David Axmann and Marietta Torberg (Langen Müller, 1987). Included are a number of typescripts and a clipping of various writings of Torberg, both prose and poetry. Among the latter are the following: a typed statement by Torberg (apparently prepared in the context of a legal dispute) detailing the negotiations that had led to the sale of the film script "Love and Hatred of Zorah Pasha" (co-written by Torberg and Werfel) to Sam Spiegel and Boris Morros of Twentieth Century Fox, with George Marton acting as an agent; a typescript of the memorial speech (Gedenkrede) that Torberg held about Werfel at the Austrian Institute in New York City, in 1945 (he mentions in his letter to Hiltbrunner that it was published in the German literary periodical Neue Rundschau); and clippings (2) of an essay about Alma Mahler, "Ein Denkmal ihrer selbst," published in Süddeutsche Zeitung, just after Alma's death.

Notes:

Includes photocopies of 2 items from Franz Werfel (originals are in the Werfel archive at UCLA); carbon copies of 3 items from Adolf Klarmann; 1 item from Marietta Torberg; 2 items co-written by Friedrich and Marietta Torberg; 1 item from Torberg addressed to Arlt; and typescripts of the following (all of them made by Torberg and forwarded to Alma Mahler): 1 letter from Torberg to Hiltbrunner and 1 from Hiltbrunner to Torberg; 2 letters from Broch to Torberg and 1 from Torberg to Broch; 1 letter from Torberg to the Österreichische Furche and 1 from Lorenz to Torberg.

OCLC:

155929605