author
Erich von Mendelssohn
d. 1913
A gifted writer, poet, and translator, he built a remarkably varied body of work before his life was cut short at just twenty-five. His writing is closely linked with Scandinavian literature, which he helped bring into German through his translations.
1 Audiobook
Phantasten: Roman
by Erich von Mendelssohn
About the author
Born in Dorpat in 1887 and dying in Helsingør on June 17, 1913, he was a German writer, poet, and translator from the Mendelssohn family. Reliable reference sources identify him as part of a German-Jewish family with a long intellectual and artistic history.
His career was brief but wide-ranging. He wrote his own literary works and also translated Scandinavian literature, especially Danish writing, into German, helping connect readers with authors from the Nordic world.
Because he died so young, his name is often remembered less for a long public career than for the promise of what might have followed. Even so, the work he left behind shows a writer moving between poetry, prose, and translation with unusual range for someone who lived only from 1887 to 1913.