Egon Friedell - An Actor, Critic, Philosopher, and Biographer

An Actor, Critic, Philosopher, and Biographer

From 1905 to 1910 Friedell worked as the artistic director of the Vienna cabaret "Fledermaus", named after the Johann Strauss operetta. During this time, Friedell continued to publish essays and one-act plays. His first literary effort was The Paraffin King. The sketch comedy Goethe (written in collaboration with Alfred Polgar) in which he also played the leading role, made him famous in German speaking countries.

In 1910, Friedell was commissioned by publisher Samuel Fischer to write a biography of poet Peter Altenberg. Fischer, who had expected something light, was unsatisfied with Friedell's analysis and critique of culture titled Ecce poeta, and the books was not promoted in any way. Hence, the book was a commercial failure, but served to mark the beginning of Friedell's interest in cultural history.

In 1912, Friedell was performing in cabarets in Berlin, and in 1913 worked for as an actor for director, Max Reinhardt. In Vienna, Friedell worked as the codirector of Intimes Theater. Friedell also continued writing and developed friendships with nearly all of the major German authors of the period. In 1914, suffering from alcoholism and obesity, Friedell was forced to undergo treatment at a sanatorium near Munich. Friedell was enthusiastic about the beginning of World War I, as were many of his contemporaries and volunteered for military service but was rejected for physical reasons.

In 1916, he officially changed his name to Friedell. (He had used Friedländer as a pen name for several of his publications, but had not used his family name Friedmann since his student days.) Friedell published the Judas Tragedy in 1916, and in 1922, he published Quarry — Miscellaneous Opinions and Quotations. In 1924, while working as a critic for the journal Stunde, Friedell was fired as a "traitor", for making satirical remarks.

Between 1919 and 1924, Friedell worked as a journalist and theatre critic for various publishers including the Neues Wiener Journal. He also worked as a dramatic advisor, theatre director and actor for director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and the Burgtheater in Vienna.

In addition Friedell's film and literary criticism continued to be published in magazines and newspapers, such as Schaubühne, Fackel, and Neuen Wiener Journal. After 1927, health problems prevented any permanent commissions, and he worked as an independent essayist, editor and translator in Vienna. Among the authors Friedell translated were Emerson, Hebbel, Lichtenberg, Carlyle, Hans Christian Andersen, Johann Nestroy, and Macaulay.