Born inFürth, Wassermann was the son of a shopkeeper and lost his mother at an early age. He showed literary interest early and published various pieces in small newspapers. Because his father was reluctant to support his literary ambitions, he began a short-livedapprenticeship with a businessman inVienna after graduation.
In 1896, he released his first novel,Melusine (his surname means "water-man" in German, while a "Melusine" (or "Melusina") is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers).
From 1898 on he was a theater critic inVienna. In 1901, he married Julie Speyer, whom he divorced in 1915. Three years later, he married again and wedded Marta Karlweis.
After 1906, he alternated between Vienna andAltaussee inStyria.
In 1926, he was elected to thePrussian Academy of Arts. He resigned in 1933, narrowly avoiding expulsion by theNazis. In the same year, his books were banned in Germany owing to his Jewish ancestry.
He died on 1 January 1934 at his home in Altaussee of a heart attack.[1]
Wassermann's work includes poetry, essays, novels, and short stories. His most important works are considered the novelThe Maurizius Case (Der Fall Maurizius, 1928) and the autobiography,My Life as German and Jew (Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude, 1921), in which he discussed the tense relationship between his German and Jewish identities.[2]
John Carl Blankenagel:The writings of Jakob Wassermann. Boston, The Christopher publishing house, 1942.
Henry Miller:Reflections on The Maurizius case: a humble appraisal of a great book. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, 1974.
Alice Cohn Hanberg:The humanism of Jakob Wassermann. Thesis-University of California. Microfilm. Los Angeles, University of California, Library Photographic Service, 1953.
Stephen H. Garrin:The concept of justice in Jakob Wassermann’s trilogy. Bern: Lang, 1979.
