Bruno Frank

Frank, Bruno (Stuttgart, 1887-1945, Beverly Hills, California), studied at Tübingen, Munich, Strasburg, and Heidelberg universities, and travelled for some years, publishing 3 vols. of poetry (Aus der goldenen Schale, 1905; Die Schatten der Dinge, 1912; Requiem, 1913). He fought in the 1914-18 War, and in 1915 published his first novel, Die Fürstin. His inclination was towards historical fiction, and his best-known novel, Trenck (1926), sensationally exploits an adventurous figure of the reign of Friedrich II (who is the subject of his novel Tage des Königs, 1924, and see Trenck, Friedrich, Freiherr von der). In 1933 Frank emigrated, staying successively in Austria, Switzerland, France, and England, and finally settling in the USA as friend and neighbour of Th. Mann. Frank's major work, Cervantes (1934), is a biographie romancée renowned for its emphasis on freedom. Among other novels written in exile are Der Reisepaß (1937) and Die Tochter (1943, a bitter attack on anti-Semitism). He also wrote successful plays, including the long-running comedy Sturm im Wasserglas (1930) and the historical play Zwölftausend (1927), dealing with the sale abroad of young men as soldiers to colonial powers, in which the dramatic intervention of Frederick the Great (in the form of a military envoy of high rank) ensures a happy end. The nucleus of this theme occurs as early as Schiller's Kabale und Liebe. A select edition, Ausgewählte Werke, appeared in 1957.

Quotes:

"Boxing is just show business with blood."

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