René Schickele Explained

René Schickele (4 August 1883 – 31 January 1940) was a German-French writer, essayist and translator.

Biography

Schickele was born in Obernai, Alsace, the son of a German vineyard owner and police officer and a French mother. He studied literature, history, science and philosophy in Strasbourg, Munich, Paris and Berlin. Together with Otto Flake and Ernst Stadler, he published several magazines as well as poetry. His work as a writer is characterized by tension between French and German culture in Alsace. After Flake's marriage to Dr. Minna Flake ended in 1911, Schickele had a daughter with Minna in 1917, Renate "Renée" Miriam Flake.[1]

After the First World War, he moved to Badenweiler, remaining passionately committed to the understanding between Germany and France. In Badenweiler he met Annette Kolb and Emil Bizer. As early as 1932 he became aware of the risk of being arrested by the Nazis and emigrated to Sanary-sur-Mer in the South of France. He only wrote one book in French, Le Retour (1938), expressing his disappointment over the failure of reconciliation between Germany and France and establishing his painful decision for the Democratic France. He died of heart failure in Vence a few months before the invasion of the German army.[2]

Schickele was the grandfather of the American composer Peter Schickele.

Schickele's most famous work is the novel trilogy Das Erbe am Rhein (1925–31): Maria Capponi (1925), Blick auf die Vogesen (1927) and Der Wolf in der Hürde (1931).

Works (selection)

Literature

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Robertson . Eric . Writing Between the Lines: René Schickele, 'Citoyen Franc̜ais, Deutscher Dichter' (1883-1940) . 1995 . Rodopi . 9789051837117 . 57 . 9 May 2019 . en.
  2. Web site: René Schickele German writer. 2020-08-20. Encyclopedia Britannica. en.