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{{Short description|Austrian writer}}
{{Expand German|topic=bio|Friedrich Torberg|date=December 2009}}
[[File:USIS - Friedrich Torberg 1 crop.jpg|thumb|Friedrich Torberg 1951]]
[[Image:Geburtshaus Torberg Wien.jpg|thumb|Friedrich Torberg's birthplace in Vienna, Porzellangasse 7a]]
[[Image:Torberg-Grab1.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Torberg's grave at the [[Zentralfriedhof]] in Vienna]]
'''Friedrich Torberg''' (16 September 1908, Vienna, [[Alsergrund]] – 10 November 1979, Vienna) is the pen-name of Friedrich Kantor, an [[Austria]]n [[German literature|writer]].

== Biography ==
He worked as a critic and journalist in [[Vienna]] and [[Prague]] until 1938, when his [[Jew]]ish heritage compelled him to emigrate to [[France]] and, later, after being invited by the New York PEN-Club as one of "Ten outstanding German Anti-Nazi-Writers" (along with [[Heinrich Mann]], [[Franz Werfel]], [[Alfred Döblin]], [[Leonhard Frank]], [[Alfred Polgar]], and others) to the [[United States]], where he worked as a scriptwriter in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] and then for [[Time magazine]] in [[New York City]]. In 1951 he returned to Vienna, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Torberg is known best for his satirical writings in fiction and nonfiction, as well as his translations into [[German language|German]] of the stories of [[Ephraim Kishon]], which remain the standard German language version of Kishon's work. A staunch [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]], Torberg used his prominence as a theater critic to [[Brecht boycott in Vienna|boycott Bertolt Brecht's]] plays in most of Austria for over a decade.

Austrian Olympic swimmer and swimsuit model [[Hedy Bienenfeld]] was the inspiration for the character "Lisa" in his novel ''The Pupil Gerber'' (''Der Schüler Gerber'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://centraleuropeaneconomicandsocialhistory.com/danube-football-viennas-identification-with-football-and-the-danube-maidens-viennas-female-swimming-champions-until-1938|title="DANUBE FOOTBALL" – VIENNA'S IDENTIFICATION WITH FOOTBALL – AND THE "DANUBE MAIDENS" – VIENNA'S FEMALE SWIMMING CHAMPIONS (until 1938) |website= Central European Economic and Social History|date=3 September 2018 }}</ref>

== Quotes ==

Some phrases from Tante Jolesch, which Torberg compiled, have also become well known. Torberg credits the title character as the originator of the following two:

“All cities are the same, only [[Venice]] is a little different.”

“What makes a man more beautiful than an ape is a luxury!”<ref>https://beruhmte-zitate.de/autoren/friedrich-torberg/</ref>

==Honours and awards==
* Julius-Empire Award (1933)
* Title of Professor (1958)
* City of Vienna Prize for Journalism (1966)
* [[Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] (1968)
* [[Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art]], 1st class (1968)
* Gold Medal of the Austrian capital Vienna (1974)
* Richard Champion Medal (1974)
* [[Austrian Decoration for Science and Art]] (1976)
* [[Grand Austrian State Prize]] for Literature (1979)
* Naming of Torberggasse in [[Penzing (Vienna)|Penzing]] (Vienna 14th District) (1981)

== Selected works ==
* ''Der Schüler Gerber hat absolviert'' (1930) (this semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a grammar school student under the oppression of a tyrannical teacher); later editions bore the shortened title ''Der Schüler Gerber'', under which the novel is now generally known.
* ''… und glauben, es wäre die Liebe'' (1932)
* ''Mein ist die Rache''. Novel. Pazifische Presse, Santa Monica, CA, 1943. Translated by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega as ''Vengeance is Mine'', Boiler House Press, Norwich, UK, 2026.
* ''Süsskind von Trimberg''. Novel. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1972, {{ISBN|3-10-079002-2}} (fictitious biography)
* ''[[:de:Die Tante Jolesch|Die Tante Jolesch]] oder Der Untergang des Abendlandes in Anekdoten'' (1975) (a collection of amusing yet bittersweet [[anecdote]]s about Jewish life and personalities in pre-[[Nazism|Nazi]] Vienna and Prague, and in the emigration), translated by Maria Poglitsch Bauer and Sonat Hart, Ariadne Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-57241-149-4}}.
* ''Die Erben der Tante Jolesch'' (1978) (the sequel to the above)

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Atze |editor1-first=Marcel |editor2-last=Patka | editor2-first=Markus G. |date=2008 |title=Die "Gefahren der Vielseitigkeit". Friedrich Torberg 1908–1979. Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im [[Jewish Museum Vienna|Jüdischen Museum Wien]] |location=Vienna |publisher=Holzhausen |isbn=978-3-85493-156-0}} (''The "Hazards of Versatility"'')

== See also ==

* [[List of Austrian writers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* http://www.forward.com/articles/13829/ (Coffee talk: Reading Friedrich Torberg's Masterpiece)
* [https://www.mediathek.at/portalsuche?searchId=29684022 Recordings with Friedrich Torberg] in the Online Archive of the [[Österreichische Mediathek]] (in German). Retrieved 29 July 2019

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torberg, Friedrich}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Alsergrund]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian writers]]
[[Category:Translators to German]]
[[Category:Austrian expatriates in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to France]]
[[Category:French emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish Austrian writers]]
[[Category:Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery]]
[[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Grand Austrian State Prize]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian translators]]
[[Category:Writers from Prague]]
[[Category:Austrian magazine founders]]

Friedrich Torberg - Revision history

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