Richard Katz (November 21, 1888 – November 8, 1968) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern per ...

, and

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. While writing both grandiose and humble prose, his style is consistently imbued with a sense of humor, humility and love for all things living.

Early years

After graduation Katz studied law at The German University in Prague. During his studies, he wrote for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Upon graduation, he began work with the now defunct

Vossische Zeitung The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally-known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...

newspaper in their Prague office. During this placement, he spent a year in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

working as a traveling reporter.

Career in journalism

After 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 ...

, Katz moved to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and in 1924 he became director of the Leipzig Publishing Company, a position he held for two years. In the years between 1928 and 1930, he was a clerk for the Ullstein publishing house in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. While working in this position, Katz founded the ''

Green Post The Green Post (German: "Die Grüne Post") was a German newspaper from the Ullstein publishing house. Operations began on 10 April 1927, and the paper enjoyed a quick rise in popularity in all social classes, reaching a circulation of over one mill ...

'', a periodical which very quickly reached a circulation of over one million. The financial success allowed Katz to establish himself as an independent writer, giving him the freedom to travel the world while writing of his experiences.

Travel and publication

During the period between 1925 and his death, Katz published nearly thirty-five volumes, mostly personally written journalistic travel books. In the late twenties, his five-book series (''The Wide, Wide World'') emerged, including , , , , (name translations below). His other areas of interests were animals – specifically dogs – and gardening. Some of his most refreshing works center around the personalities of dogs, and the methods one must employ to be a successful gardener. In 1933, Katz emigrated to Switzerland. In 1941, he moved to Brazil obtaining citizenship there. In 1956 he returned to Switzerland where he died in 1968 living above Locarno.

Selected works

Works translated into English

* (Loafing Around the Globe) * (Rays From the East) * (Solitary Life)

Untranslated German travel books

* (''Pleasant Days with Brown Peoples'') * (''Zig-Zagging Through South America'') * (''Harvest'') * (''The voyage round the world in the Johannisnacht'') * (''My Island Book – first experiences in Brazil'') * (''Strange travels in Brazil'') * (''Travel Fever'') * (''Meetings in Rio'') * (''On the Amazon'') * (''Per Hill's hardest case – a serious detective story'') * (''A Great Deal from a Far Off Country'') * (''Wandering World'') * (''Greetings from the Hammock'')

Stories regarding domestic matters

* (''Nature's Jewels'') * (''Four Stories on Animals'') * (''From Dog to Dog'') * (''On Gardening'') * (''Hobbies'')

Political work

* ''(The Three Faces of Lucifer: Noise, Machines, Business)''

Autobiographical works

* (''Lost in the City'') * (''Solitary Life'')

Literature

Jeroen Dewulf Jeroen Dewulf (1972 in Nieuwpoort, Belgium) is a Belgian scholar specializing in Dutch culture, the Dutch language, German Studies, slavery and African-American culture, Caribbean Studies, and Latin American Studies. He is a professor at the Unive ...

: ''Brasilien mit Brüchen. Schweizer unter dem Kreuz des Südens'', Zürich: NZZ Verlag 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Richard Writers from Prague 1888 births 1968 deaths Brazilian journalists Male journalists Brazilian male writers Charles University alumni German essayists German travel writers German emigrants to Switzerland German emigrants to Brazil German publishers (people) German magazine founders Naturalized citizens of Brazil 20th-century essayists 20th-century German journalists