THE GREAT READER

  • Edited and with a foreword by Harry Rowohlt.

“One should read Polgar because he is enjoyable and clever.” (Elke Heidenreich)

The narrator Polgar had many subjects. At his table in the coffeehouse – which Polgar called the “place of passions”  – he wrote about cities and landscapes, objects and animals. The Vienna years after 1918, the glamorous Berlin of the declining Weimar Republic, and the life of the émigré all found their way into his texts. But above all, he wrote about people – and not least, always about himself.

Contact Foreign Rights
Rights sold to

English Wolrd - NYREV Classics

  • Publisher: Rowohlt Taschenbuch
  • Release: 01.09.2004
  • ISBN: 978-3-499-23806-2
  • 428 Pages
  • Author: Alfred Polgar

Our covers may only be used free of charge for press, event and promotional purposes in connection with the title or author. In particular, it is not permitted to use the covers in connection with other products, goods or services. The covers may only be reproduced faithfully in their original, unaltered form and must not be edited.

Buchcover von THE GREAT READER
Alfred Polgar THE GREAT READER
Portrait von Alfred Polgar
Alfred Polgar

Born on October 17, 1873, in Vienna as the son of a musician, Alfred Polgar moved to Berlin in 1925, where he took over the theater section for the weekly publications  Weltbühne and Tagebuch . His sparklingly witty critiques filled four volumes published between 1928 and 1932. Polgar also wrote for the stage, either alone or with Egon Friedell; however, he became enduringly famous for his short prose pieces, which contemporaries already regarded as “of the highest human, intellectual, and literary quality” (Oskar Loerke) and which still delight today with their linguistic mastery and humor. From Nazi Germany, Polgar emigrated first to Austria, and in 1940 via France and the Pyrenean paths to America. Alfred Polgar died on April 24, 1955, in Zurich.