Leopold Perutz (2 November 1882, Prague – 25 August 1957, Bad Ischl) was an Austrian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. He was born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

(now capital of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) and was thus a citizen of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. He lived in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

until the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' in 1938, when he emigrated to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. According to the biographical note on the

Arcade Publishing Arcade Publishing is an independent trade publishing company that started in 1988 in New York, USA. It publishes American and world fiction and nonfiction. The company was started and run by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette.Weber, Bruce (Ja ...

editions of the English translations of his novels, Leo was a mathematician who formulated an

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

equation In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in ...

which is named after him; he worked as a

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

for an

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

company. He was related to the

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Max Perutz Max Ferdinand Perutz (19 May 1914 – 6 February 2002) was an Austrian-born British molecular biologist, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with John Kendrew, for their studies of the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin. He went ...

. During the 1950s he returned occasionally to Austria, spending the summer and autumn months in the market town of St. Wolfgang in the

Salzkammergut The Salzkammergut (; ; bar, Soizkaumaguad, label=Central Austro-Bavarian) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mounta ...

resort region and in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He died in the Austrian spa town of

Bad Ischl Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden' ...

in 1957. He wrote his first novel, ''The Third Bullet'', in 1915 while recovering from a wound sustained in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In all Perutz wrote eleven novels, which gained the admiration of

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

Karl Edward Wagner Karl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 14 October 1994) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. He ...

and

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

. Wagner cited Perutz' novel ' as one of the thirteen best non-supernatural horror novels.

Overview

Perutz was born in

to a largely non-religious family of Jewish ancestry. They moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he attended various schools and colleges before studying

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...

, statistics, actuarial science, and economics. Perutz' novels are short and are usually

historical novels Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

combining fast-paced adventure with a

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

twist. They are influenced by the work of E. T. A. Hoffmann,

Arthur Schnitzler Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. Biography Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy ...

and

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

(whose work Perutz translated into German). Austrian fellow novelist

Friedrich Torberg Friedrich Torberg (16 September 1908, Vienna, Alsergrund – 10 November 1979, Vienna) is the pen-name of Friedrich Kantor, an Austrian writer. Biography He worked as a critic and journalist in Vienna and Prague until 1938, when his Jewish he ...

once characterized Perutz' literary style as the possible result of a little infidelity of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

. ''The Marquis of Bolibar'' (1920) features the

Wandering Jew The Wandering Jew is a mythical immortal man whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. In the original legend, a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion was then cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming. Th ...

appearing during Napoleon's campaign in Spain.Franz Rottensteiner, "German Language Fantasy since 1900" in Frank N. Magill, ed. ''Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature'', Vol 3., (pp. 2391-2414) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc., 1983. ''The Master of the Day of Judgement'' (1921) is a decidedly different

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

story about the circumstances surrounding an actor's death in the early twentieth century, and ''Little Apple'' (1928) concerns a

soldier's obsessive quest for revenge. ''By Night Under the Stone Bridge'' (1952) is an episodic work whose separate stories are bound together by the illicit love shared, in their dreams, by a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish woman and the Emperor

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...

. In the

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

-published ''Leonardo's Judas'' (1959),

da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's quest for an appropriate face to give the betrayer in his ''

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

'' is interwoven with the squabble between a usurer and the merchant to whom he owes money. The title of his 1933 novel ''Saint Peter's Snow'' (published in English in 1935 as ''The Virgin's Brand''), which is set in what was then the present day, refers to a drug which induces religious fervour; the Nazis, understandably, did not care for it. Critic Alan Piper considered it "a psychological detective story", although it has varyingly been categorised as

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

or fantasy. Piper believed that the novel was decades ahead of its time due to the description of a hallucinogenic drug derived from an

ergot Ergot ( ) or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus ''Claviceps''. The most prominent member of this group is ''Claviceps purpurea'' ("rye ergot fungus"). This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that ca ...

fungus 10 years before the discovery of

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

. He also thought it astonishing that it discussed the experimental use of this hallucinogen on an isolated village 20 years before the

1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning The 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning, also known in French as Le Pain Maudit, was a mass poisoning on 15 August 1951, in the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit in Southern France. More than 250 people were involved, including 50 people interned ...

, and proposed that ergot was the psychoactive ingredient used in the ancient mystery cults 40 years before this was put forward as a serious proposal. In his discussion of German language fantastic literature, critic

Franz Rottensteiner Franz Rottensteiner (born 18 January 1942) is an Austrian publisher and critic in the fields of science fiction and speculative fiction in general. Biography Rottensteiner was born in Waidmannsfeld, Lower Austria. He studied journalism, Englis ...

describes Perutz as "undoubtedly the finest fantasy author of his time". Literary scholar Alan Piper described Perutz's work as typically containing "an element of the fantastic, with dramatic plots featuring confusing and conflicting interpretations of events".

Novels by Perutz in English translation

(Dates of publication are for the original German-language editions) * ''

From Nine to Nine ''From Nine to Nine'' or ''Between Nine and Nine'' (German title: ''Zwischen neun und neun''; original title: ''Freiheit'') is a novel by Leo Perutz first published in 1918. It is about a turbulent day in the life of an impoverished student in Im ...

'' (1918) * ''The Marquis of Bolibar'' (1920)Andreas Dorschel, 'Dein Feuer, Bürschchen, brennt an einer kurzen Lunte', in: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' Nr. 218, 20 September 2004, p. 14. * ' (1921) * ''Turlupin'' (1924) * ''Little Apple'' (1928) * ''Saint Peter's Snow'' (1933) * ''The Swedish Cavalier'' (1936) * ''By Night under the Stone Bridge'' (1953) * ''Leonardo's Judas'' (1959)

Filmography

* ''

The Adventure of Doctor Kircheisen ''The Adventure of Doctor Kircheisen'' (german: Das Abenteuer des Dr. Kircheisen) is a 1921 German silent drama film directed by Rudolf Biebrach and stars Lotte Neumann, Hermann Thimig and Hans Marr. The script was by Robert Wiene, based on the ...

'', directed by

Rudolf Biebrach Rudolf Biebrach (24 November 1866 – 5 September 1938) was a German actor and film director. He directed over 70 films between 1909 and 1930; and he appeared as an actor in nearly 110 films between 1909 and 1938. In his youth, Biebrach had worke ...

(1921, based on the novel ''Das Mangobaumwunder'') * ', directed by

Friedrich Feher Friedrich Feher (born Friedrich Weiß, 16 March 1889 – 30 September 1950) was an Austrian actor and film director. He first entered the film business in 1913, starting out as an actor but quickly gravitated toward directing. He is perhaps bes ...

(1922, based on the novel ''Die Geburt des Antichrist'') * ''

The Marquis of Bolibar ''The Marquis of Bolibar'' (German: ''Der Marquis von Bolibar'') is a 1922 Austrian silent film directed by Friedrich Porges and starring Hans Schindler. It is based on the 1920 novel of the same title by Leo Perutz. The film's sets were desi ...

'', directed by

Friedrich Porges Friedrich ( Frederick ) Porges (1890–1978) was an Austrian-American film director of the silent era, journalist, publisher, screenwriter, author and film critic. Of Jewish background, he fled Vienna just prior to the Anschluss The (, o ...

(1922, based on the novel ''Der Marques de Bolibar'') * ''

Bolibar ''Bolibar'' is a 1928 British silent drama film directed by Walter Summers and starring Elissa Landi, Michael Hogan, and Carl Harbord. It was based on the 1920 novel ''The Marquis of Bolibar'' by Leo Perutz. It was made by British Instructio ...

'', directed by

Walter Summers Walter Summers (1892–1973) was a British film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Barnstaple to a family of actors, British motion picture director Walter Summers began his career in the family trade; his first contact with filmmaki ...

(UK, 1928, based on the novel ''Der Marques de Bolibar'') * ''

The Cossack and the Nightingale ''The Cossack and the Nightingale'' (German: ''Der Kosak und die Nachtigall'') is a 1935 Austrian romantic thriller film directed by Phil Jutzi and starring Jarmila Novotna, Iván Petrovich and Gerda Maurus.Bock & Bergfelder p.233 The film's ar ...

'', directed by

Phil Jutzi Phil Jutzi (sometimes known as Piel Jutzi) (22 July 1896 – 1 May 1946) was a German cinematographer and film director. Born Philipp Jutzi in Altleiningen as the son of a tailor, Jutzi was self-educated. (He seems to have been generally known by ...

(1935, based on the novel ''Der Kosak und die Nachtigall'') * '' Historia de una noche'', directed by

Luis Saslavsky Luis Saslavsky (April 21, 1903 – March 20, 1995) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer, and one of the influential directors in the Cinema of Argentina of the classic era. Personal life Saskavsky was born in Rosario, Sa ...

(Argentina, 1941, based on the play ''Morgen ist Feiertag'') * ', directed by

(Spain, 1963, based on the play ''Morgen ist Feiertag'') * ', directed by

Michael Kehlmann Michael Kehlmann (21 September 1927 – 1 December 2005) was an Austrian television film director and theatre director, screenwriter and actor. During 1951–1953, Kehlmann was the manager of the "Kleines Theater im Konzerthaus", Vienna. He was awa ...

(1990, TV film, based on the novel ') * ''St. Petri Schnee'', directed by

Peter Patzak Peter Patzak (2 January 1945 – 11 March 2021) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He directed 60 films from 1973 to 2021. His film ''Kassbach – Ein Porträt'' was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival and his f ...

(1991, TV film, based on the novel ''St. Petri Schnee'')

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Giffuni, Cathe. ""Leo Perutz: An English Bibliography," Bulletin of Bibliography, Vol. 48 No. 4 December 1991, pp. 195–197. *

External links

* *
Brief biography in German

German and international bibliography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perutz, Leo 1882 births 1957 deaths Writers from Prague Czech writers in German 20th-century Austrian mathematicians 20th-century Austrian novelists Austrian male novelists Austrian fantasy writers Austrian horror writers Jewish novelists Austro-Hungarian writers Austro-Hungarian Jews Israeli people of Czech-Jewish descent Austrian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Mathematicians from Prague Austro-Hungarian mathematicians 20th-century Austrian male writers Burials at the Bad Ischl Friedhof

Overview

Novels by Perutz in English translation

Filmography

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links