KLABUND (1947)

Pseudonym of ALFRED HENSCHKE.

Expresionist poet, playwright and novelist who influenced German literature with his adaptations of Oriental literature.

Notable among his free, imaginative renderings od Chinese, Japanese and Persian literature are Li-tai-pe (1916), Lao-tse (1921) and Der Kreidekreis (1924, The Circle of Chalk), a successful drama later adapted by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht in his play Der kaukasische Kreidekreis (The Caucasian Chalk Circle).

A consumptive who spent many years in sanatoriums, he identified with the eternally seeking wandering poet and called himself Klabund, a name derived from Klabautermann (hobgoblin) and Vagabund (vagabond).

Restlessness and versatility characterize his work. 
He composed poetry in a number of forms and he created a new prose form, the "Expressionist novella". Notable in this genre are his autobiographical "novels of longing" with themes of sickness and love; biographical "novels of passion", sensual portraits of historical figures (e.g., Pjotr, 1923; Peter the Czar, 1925) and his greatest achievements in prose two novels of fulfillment, Bracke (1918, Brackie the Fool, 1927) and Borgia (1928, The Incredible Borgias, 1929).