author
Albrecht Schaeffer
1885–1950
A German writer of poems, novels, and essays, he moved through the literary world of the early 20th century with a serious, classical style. He is also remembered for receiving the last letter Sigmund Freud ever wrote.
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About the author
Born in Elbing in 1885 and raised in Hanover, he studied philology in Munich, Marburg, and Berlin before working as a journalist and then devoting himself to literature. He became known as a German writer whose work ranged across poetry, fiction, and criticism.
His reputation rests in part on ambitious, intellectually shaped books such as Helianth, along with a body of verse and prose often linked to a neoclassical sensibility. A detail often noted in accounts of his life is that Sigmund Freud addressed his final letter to him, calling him "my poet."
Schaeffer died in Munich in 1950. Though he is less widely read today than some of his contemporaries, he remains an intriguing figure in German literature for readers drawn to reflective, finely made writing from the first half of the 20th century.