Confessions of a European Intellectual

Lively 'monologue' autobiography, personal and professional, as the ex-editor of Jugend, Simplicissimus etc. gives a picture of the cultural, literary, artistic circles of Germany during the two decades before the deluge of war. A critic, even in childhood, exposed to the new trends in thought and writing, victim of a youthful snobbism, he was no hero in the last war, and through chance entered the Musa Press as general handyman at the war's end. Then, with the publishing of de luxe editions, foreign titles, he transferred to Auslandspost, then to Jugend, Simplicissimus, radio, and so on. There is a sense of isolation in these circles, of disbelief in the early threat of Hitlerism, of the too late but nonetheless strong opposition, when the threat was recognized in all its evil....and it was no longer possible for the pen to be mightier than the sword. Here also is appraisal of Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Lawrence, Freud, Nietzche; here is mental traveling as well as physical; odd, memorable personalities of the world the author knew. From Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/franz-schoenberner/confessions-of-a-european-intellectual/#review