Albrecht Schaeffer
Albrecht Carl Schaeffer was a German author and scholar, born on December 6, 1885, in Elbing, Prussia, now Elblag, Poland. He studied classical and modern philology at several universities, including Munich and Berlin, and began his literary career in the early 1910s, producing a diverse body of work that included fiction, poetry, drama, and translations. Schaeffer's writing often explored themes of mysticism, spirituality, and ancient mythology, as evident in his notable novels like "Helianth" and his poetry collections that drew inspiration from classical texts such as Homer's "Odyssey."
After being drafted into military service during World War I, Schaeffer continued to write prolifically, despite the challenges posed by the political climate of the time. The rise of the Nazis curtailed his work, prompting him to leave Germany for the United States in 1939, where he continued to publish, including his philosophical reflections on mythology. Schaeffer's life was marked by multiple marriages and the birth of several children. He returned to Germany in his later years, where he passed away on December 4, 1950. His legacy includes a rich exploration of cultural and mythological themes through literature.
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Albrecht Schaeffer
Writer
- Born: December 6, 1885
- Birthplace: Elbing, Prussia, Germany (now Elblag, Poland)
- Died: December 4, 1950
- Place of death: Munich, Germany
Biography
Albrecht Carl Schaeffer was born on December 6, 1885, in Elbing, Prussia, Germany, (now Elblag, Poland), and grew up in Hanover, German. His father Paul Friedrich Schaeffer, was an architect, and his mother was Marie Antoinette Agnes Schaeffer. Between 1905 and 1909, Albrecht attended the universities of Munich, Marberg, and Berlin, studying classical and modern philology.
After a brief stint as an unpaid apprentice newspaper reporter, Schaeffer returned home, where in the early 1910’s he began producing the first of many works of fiction, poetry, drama, translation, and nonfiction that were published during his lifetime or posthumously. Much of Schaeffer’s work reflects his lifelong interest in mysticism. His novels, such as the three-volume Helianth: Bilder aus dem Leben zweier Menschen von heute aus der norddeutschen Tiefebene in neun Bücheru dargestellt, often focus on the spiritual and intellectual growth of the main characters and on ancient myths. His early poetry collections, Die Meerfahrt and Attische Dämmerung, borrow motifs from Homer’s Odyssey, which Schaeffer translated in 1927. Schaeffer also translated The Iliad, rewrote Greek mythology in Der Raub der Persefone: Eine attische Myth, and penned a scholarly two-volume nonfiction work examining Hellenic mythology, Griechische Heldensagen: Neu erzáht nach alten Quellen.
At the outbreak of World War I, Schaeffer was drafted into the military and served as a desk clerk at the bureau for disabled soldiers. He was especially productive during the war years, editing several books and publishing novels, poetry collections, plays, a biography of Rainer Maria Rilke, and a translation of Oscar Wilde’s poem, “The Ballad of Reading Goal.” Shaeffer was also productive on the personal front. He married his first wife, Irma Beck, in 1918, and the couple had two children, Klaus and Marlies, after relocating to the Bavarian town of Neubeuen and before their divorce in 1929.
Shaeffer was particularly prolific during the 1920’s and 1930’s, writing in a variety of genres while remaining active in his roles as editor and translator. Notable works during this period include novels, short fiction collections, poetry, plays, and translations of Robert Louis Stevenson and Lucius Apuleius’s Golden Ass (second century c.e.).
In 1931, Schaeffer married Olga Elisabet Heymann, who gave birth to three children, Dirk, Angelika, and Veit. The Nazis’ rise to power and the restrictions they imposed impeded Schaeffer’s writing; his novel, Cara, deals with the evils of racist policies. In 1939, Schaeffer and his family left Germany to live in voluntary exile in New York. His best known works during his exile include the novel Rudolf Erzerum: Oder, Des Lebens Einfachheit; a short-story collection, Das Auswanderer: Erzählungen und Novellen; and the posthumously published philosophical work on mythology to which he devoted the last decade of his life, Mythos: Abhandlungen über die kulturellen Grundlagen der Menschheit.
Schaeffer returned to Germany, where he died of a heart attack on a Munich streetcar on December 4, 1950.