Franz Blei
Franz Blei (pseudonyms: Medardus, Dr. Peregrinus Steinhövel, Amadée de la Houlette, Franciscus Amadeus, Gussie Mc-Bill, Prokop Templin, Heliogabal, Nikodemus Schuster, L. O. G., Hans Adolar; January 18, 1871, Vienna – July 10, 1942, Westbury, Long Island, New York) was an essayist, playwright and translator from Vienna. He was also noted as a bibliophile, a critic, an editor and publisher, and a fine wit in conversation. He was a friend and collaborator of Franz Kafka.
Life
He was the son of a shoe-maker and trained as an architect. As a member of the Jewish literati, he was at great risk in German-occupied Europe and eventually succeeded after a lengthy odyssey to reach the USA in 1941 where he settled in New York.
Work
He translated into German work by Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde and Molière among others and also published his own monograph on the paintings of the symbolist Felicien Rops. He was also a prolific editor of small-press journals.
Kafka said of him: "Franz Blei is much cleverer, and greater, than what he writes." (Janouch, 1971. "Conversations With Kafka").
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