author
Albert Ehrenstein
1886–1950
A restless voice of early 20th-century Expressionism, he wrote poetry and prose that pushed against bourgeois convention and often turned toward China and the wider world for inspiration. His work moved between Vienna, Berlin, exile, and New York, carrying the intensity of a writer shaped by upheaval.
3 Audiobooks
Zaubermärchen
by Albert Ehrenstein
Nicht da, nicht dort
by Albert Ehrenstein
Tubutsch
by Albert Ehrenstein
About the author
Born in Vienna on December 23, 1886, Albert Ehrenstein was an Austrian-born German-language poet and writer associated with Expressionism. He studied history and geography in Vienna, and his early work appeared in Karl Kraus's Die Fackel. He became known for writing that challenged middle-class values and for a strong interest in Chinese literature and culture.
Ehrenstein spent much of his literary life in Vienna and Berlin, where he worked as a freelance writer and moved in important avant-garde circles. His novel Tubutsch, published with drawings by Oskar Kokoschka, helped establish his reputation, and his poems and prose appeared in journals connected with the modernist scene.
As a Jewish writer, he was forced into exile after the rise of Nazism. He eventually settled in New York, where he died on April 8, 1950. Although he is not as widely read today as some of his contemporaries, he remains an important figure for listeners interested in German-language modernism and the darker, searching edge of Expressionist literature.