Jakob Wassermann
Jakob Wassermann was a German-Jewish author born into a conservative merchant family, whose early life was marked by struggle and hardship. He faced significant opposition to his literary aspirations from his upbringing, particularly from an unsympathetic stepmother and a father who viewed writing as a path to poverty. Despite these challenges, he pursued a literary career, moving to various cities in Germany and Austria, and experiencing both destitution and intermittent success. Wassermann’s breakthrough came in the late 1890s, leading to the publication of notable works that garnered critical acclaim, including "Dark Pilgrimage" and "The Story of Young Renate Fuchs". He was known for addressing complex themes related to ethical conduct and democratic ideals, and his writing earned admiration from contemporaries such as Thomas Mann and Arthur Schnitzler. Throughout his life, he faced anti-Semitism and personal upheaval, including two marriages and a divorce. Wassermann passed away in 1934, leaving a legacy as a significant figure in early 20th-century literature.
Subject Terms
Jakob Wassermann
German novelist
- Born: March 10, 1873
- Birthplace: Fürth, Germany
- Died: January 1, 1934
- Place of death: Alt-Aussee, Austria
Identity: Jewish
Biography
Perhaps no writer of modern times, with the possible exception of Francis Thompson, has suffered greater indignities than Jakob Wassermann in the struggle to vindicate himself as an artist. He was born of Jewish parentage to his merchant father, a man with a narrow, conservative outlook who allowed his second wife, the boy’s unsympathetic stepmother, to regulate the life of the household. In his childhood Wassermann’s literary talents were ruthlessly curbed on the principle that if he should become a writer he would be poor and therefore worthless. In 1889 he was sent to Vienna, where his uncle was the proprietor of a factory; unable to bear the routine of business, Wassermann made a temporary escape to Munich with the plan of studying to enter the university. Lacking money, he returned home and was sent to Vienna again, this time to learn the export trade. Less than a year later, he left his new job. Conscripted into the army for the required year of military duty, he became the butt of anti-Semitic pranks and insults from comrades.
After completing his year of service he held a government job in Nuremberg until, inheriting a small sum of money, he ventured to Munich again and remained as long as his resources allowed. He briefly found employment in Freiburg but then, destitute again, he roamed as a beggar in the Black Forest before working his way with odd jobs to Zurich and then once more to Munich. A turn in his fortunes occurred, just in time to avert the collapse of his health, when in 1895 he became engaged as secretary to the writer Ernst von Wolzogen. Shortly thereafter, he was hired as an editorial assistant by the manager of the satirical Munich periodical Simplicissimus, which was then in its first year of publication. Some of his poems and tales appeared in that journal in 1896, and one story gained him a prize of three hundred marks. Between 1897 and 1900 his novels Dark Pilgrimage and Die Geschichte der jungen Renate Fuchs (the story of young Renate Fuchs) were published to positive reviews, inaugurating the succession of major novels that established his literary reputation. In 1898 he returned to Austria, to live there the rest of his life, and in 1901 he married Julie Speyer. After separating from her in 1919 and obtaining a divorce several years later, he married Marta Karlweis. On New Year’s Day, 1934, he died at Alt-Aussee, where he had resided for ten years.
Wassermann was strongly admired by Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Thomas Mann. His work is impressive for the scope of its themes. He was especially interested in the problems of ethical conduct and was devoted to the ideals of democratic liberalism.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Die Juden von Zirndorf, 1897 (The Jews of Zirndorf, 1918; also known as Dark Pilgrimage, 1933)
Die Geschichte der jungen Renate Fuchs, 1900
Alexander in Babylon, 1905 (English translation, 1949)
Caspar Hauser: Oder, Die Trägheit des Herzens, 1908 (Caspar Hauser, 1928)
Das Gänsemännchen, 1915 (The Goose Man, 1922)
Christian Wahnschaffe, 1919 (The World’s Illusion, 1920)
Oberlins drei Stufen und Sturreganz, 1922 (Oberlin’s Three Stages, 1925)
Ulrike Woytich, 1923 (Gold, 1924)
Faber: Oder, Die verlorenen Jahre, 1924 (Faber: Or, The Lost Years, 1925; with Der unbekannte Gast, below, the previous 3 titles make up the series Der Wendekreis)
Laudin und die Seinen, 1925 (Wedlock, 1926)
Der Aufruhr um den Junker Ernst, 1926 (The Triumph of Youth, 1927)
Der Fall Maurizius, 1928 (The Maurizius Case, 1929)
Etzel Andergast, 1931 (Doctor Kerkhoven, 1932)
Joseph Kerkhovens dritte Existenz, 1934 (Kerkhoven’s Third Existence, 1934)
Olivia, 1937
Short Fiction:
Der unbekannte Gast, 1920 (volume 1 of series DerWendekreis)
World’s Ends: Five Stories, 1927 (translates all but the title story of Der unbekannte Gast)
Drama:
Die ungleichen Schalen, pb. 1912
Nonfiction:
Deutsche Charaktere und Begebenheiten, 1915-1924 (biography; 2 volumes)
MeinWeg als Deutscher und Jude, 1921 (autobiography; My Life as German and Jew, 1933)
Lebensdienst, 1928 (autobiography)
Christoph Columbus: Der Don Quichote des Ozeans, 1929 (Christopher Columbus: Don Quixote of the Seas, 1930)
Hofmannsthal der Freund, 1930
Bula Matari, Das Leben Stanleys, 1932 (Bula Matari: Stanley, Conqueror of a Continent, 1933)
Selbstbetrachtungen, 1933 (autobiography)
Briefe an seine Braut und Gattin Julie, 1900-1929, 1940 (first published as The Letters of Jakob Wassermann to Frau Julie Wassermann, 1935)
Bibliography
Blankenagel, J. C. “Jakob Wassermann’s Views on America.” German Quarterly 27 (1954). A study in English.
Garrin, Stephen H. The Concept of Justice in Jakob Wassermann’s Trilogy. Las Vegas: P. Lang, 1979. A critical study.
Regensteiner, Henry. “The Obsessive Personality in Jakob Wassermann’s Novel Der Fall Maurizius.” Literature and Psychology 14 (1964). An article on The Maurizius Case.
Wassermann, Jakob. My Life as German and Jew. Translated by S. N. Brainin. New York: Coward-McCann, 1933. A primary source for biographical material.