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Jan 1, 2008
(Podwoloczyska, Galicia, 1900 -- 96, nr. Basel),
was brought up in Nuremberg, studied first law and economics, then Germanistik, history, and philosophy in Erlangen and Frankfurt, began a doctoral thesis on Heinrich
Mann, but in 1926 turned to freelance writing. Soon after receiving the Kleist Prize for his novel Joseph sucht die Freiheit (1927), he joined the Kiepenheuer Verlag where he devoted himself to the promotion of young writers (24 neue deutsche Erzähler, 1929, reissued 1973) as well as publishing works by established authors, among them H. Mann, A.
Zweig, and his friend Joseph
Roth. On account of his own works he became known as an exponent of the new trend Neue Sachlichkeit; they include the novel Ein ausschweifender Mensch (1929) continuing the story of Joseph, two Novellen contained in Die Liebesehe (1928, extd. to 18 stories, 1948), plays, and the novels Glückliche Menschen (1931) and Der Scharlatan (1932).Early in 1933 Kesten emigrated to Paris and soon found a task enabling him to help exiled fellow writers by becoming co-founder and literary editor of the German section of the publishing house Allert de Lange in Amsterdam (see Exilliteratur). He would spend several months each year in the Dutch city, the remainder in Belgium and Paris, working in close collaboration with the resident manager and editor Walter
Landauer. At the beginning of the 1939 -- 45 War Kesten was detained for five weeks in the French internment camp in Nevers, but in May
1940 succeeded in emigrating to the USA, later acquiring US citizenship. He continued to help those still in danger by working with Th.
Mann as an honorary adviser to the Emergency Rescue Committee. In 1949 he returned to Europe, settling in Rome and, from 1977, in Basel, though he continued to spend prolonged periods in Paris, Vienna, Munich, and New York. In 1964 he edited the substantial volume Deutsche Literatur im Exil. Briefe europäischer Autoren 1933–49 (extd. 1973); other works reflecting his wide experience include Meine Freunde die Poeten (1953, ext. 1959), Dichter im Café (1959, ext. 1965), Der Geist der Unruhe (1960), Filialen des Parnaß. Dreizehn Essays (1961), and Lauter Literaten (1963).The first work to appear in exile was Der Gerechte (1934), followed by the historical novels Ferdinand und Isabella (1936) and König Philipp II. (1938), which were reissued as Sieg der Dämonen (1953) and Ich, der König (1950) respectively to form a trilogy with Um die Krone. Der Mohr von Kastilien (1952). Four other novels appeared as the tetralogy Bücher der Liebe (1960): the early Joseph sucht die Freiheit, which tells of the idealistic boy's disillusionment resulting from the sexual promiscuity of his mother and sisters; Glückliche Menschen, in which the ruthless build their happiness on the despair of others; Die Kinder von Gernika (1939), to which the tragedy of a Spanish family and its effect on a young survivor is central; and Die fremden Götter (1949), on an irreconcilable conflict between an orthodox Jewish father and his daughter, a Roman Catholic. Together they represent a social and political commentary on conditions during the first four decades of the 20th c. Social corruption, evident before the First World War, persists in the middle class of the Weimar Republic; the third novel uses the Spanish Civil War as an example of the effects of dictatorship and war, while the fourth focuses on religious intolerance in a particularly poignant family conflict. Later works include Ein Sohn des Glücks (1955), Die Abenteuer eines Moralisten (1961), and Ein Mann von sechzig Jahren (1972), and poetry (Ich bin der ich bin, 1974; Gedichte, 1985). Kesten has remained notably active as an editor and translator. An enlightened rationalist, urbane and pragmatic, he was sceptical towards any form of prejudice. He was awarded the Büchner Prize in 1974. Editions of his work include Ausgewählte Werke (20 vols.), 1980 ff.
© Oxford University Press, 1976, 1986, 1997, 2005
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