Franz Werfel, Stern der Ungeborenen [The Star of the Unborn]

Hans Wagener (University of California, Los Angeles)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1945

Places

Czech Republic (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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The novel

Stern der Ungeborenen. Ein Reiseroman

[

Star of the Unborn

] was Werfel's last work which he completed two days before his death on 26 August 1945. The first German edition was published in 1946 in Stockholm by the German exile publisher Bermann-Fischer, the English translation in the same year in New York (The Viking Press; transl. Gustave O. Arlt). The novel was composed in several stages between May 1943 and August 1945. Twenty-four of the twenty-six chapters of the novel were written almost simultaneously with the translation by Werfel's American friend Gustave O. Arlt. The last two chapters were translated immediately after the author's death. Writing the novel was indeed a race against death – a physician was often at Werfel's side. Since death was before his eyes, it is…

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1999 words

Citation: Wagener, Hans. "Stern der Ungeborenen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=22187, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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