author
René Schickele
1883–1940
Born in Alsace between French and German cultures, this poet, novelist, essayist, and translator turned that borderland experience into deeply human writing about identity, peace, and understanding. Best known for the trilogy Das Erbe am Rhein, he wrote with sympathy for both sides of a divided Europe.
2 Audiobooks
Aïssé
by René Schickele
Perintö Reinin rannalla : Romaani nykyvuosilta
by René Schickele
About the author
Born on August 4, 1883, in Obernai in Alsace, René Schickele grew up with a German father and a French mother, a background that shaped much of his writing. He studied in Strasbourg, Munich, Paris, and Berlin, and became known as a writer, journalist, editor, essayist, and translator working across the cultural fault line between Germany and France.
His work often returned to questions of identity, nationalism, and the damage caused by conflict between nations. Britannica notes that his personal experience of tension between countries gave his writing the force of a plea for peace and mutual understanding. His best-known achievement is the novel trilogy Das Erbe am Rhein — Maria Capponi (1925), Blick auf die Vogesen (1927), and Der Wolf in der Hürde (1931).
Schickele spent part of his later life in the south of France and died in Vence on January 31, 1940. Today he is remembered as one of the major Alsatian voices of his era: a writer whose life between languages and nations gave his work both urgency and warmth.