Michael Fraenkel
Michael Fraenkel was a Lithuanian-born author who immigrated to New York at the age of eight. He is best known for his novel "Werther's Younger Brother," published in 1930, which explores themes of inner death and existential discovery. In the same year, Fraenkel co-founded Carrefour Press with poet Walter Lowenfels to promote the "anonymous movement," advocating for anonymity in artistic expression. However, following a plagiarism scandal involving Lowenfels, they shifted the press's focus to publishing works with credited authors. Fraenkel's profound ideas on spiritual death and rebirth significantly influenced his contemporary, Henry Miller, who modeled the character Boris from "Tropic of Cancer" after him. Together, Fraenkel and Miller corresponded extensively, resulting in the publication of "Hamlet," a two-volume collection of their letters beginning with discussions on Shakespeare's play. Fraenkel’s contemplations on mortality and destruction shaped his literary contributions until his passing in 1957.
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Subject Terms
Michael Fraenkel
Writer
- Born: 1896
- Birthplace: Kopul, Lithuania
- Died: May 22, 1957
Biography
Michael Fraenkel was born in Lithuania and immigrated with his family to New York when he was eight years old. Fraenkel was the author of such works as Werther’s Younger Brother (1930), a novel that describes a young man’s discovery of his inner death. In 1930, Fraenkel and the poet and critic Walter Lowenfels established the Carrefour Press in an effort to support the “anonymous movement,” which called for anonymity in all art. After Lowenfels admitted to writing U.S.A with Music in a plagiarism lawsuit, Fraenkel and Lowenfels decided to end their experiment with anonymous authorship. The Carrefour Press continued to publish literature with the authors credited.
Fraenkel’s ideas regarding spiritual death and rebirth had a profound influence on fellow writer and friend Henry Miller—Miller based his character Boris from Tropic of Cancer on Fraenkel. One of Fraenkel’s key ideas was that the world was doomed to moral and physical destruction; Fraenkel was infatuated with the notion of death. Fraenkel and Miller collaborated on Hamlet, a collection of their written correspondence to each other on a variety of subjects, the first of which was Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This collection was first published in 1939 and eventually comprised two volumes. Fraenkel died in 1957.