MAUTNER, EDUARD:

By: Isidore Singer, Newell Dunbar

German author and journalist; born at Budapest Nov. 13, 1824; died in Baden, near Vienna, July 2, 1889. His father, who was a merchant in Budapest, died when Eduard was seven years old, whereupon his mother, with her children, of whom Eduard was the oldest, removed to Vienna. There he attended the elementary school and the gymnasium. After attending lectures on philosophy at the University of Prague (1843), where he published several poems and a tale in Glaser's "Ost und West," he returned to Vienna, began the study of medicine, exchanged it for that of law, and then dropped law for literature. In 1844 he removed to Leipsic, studied philosophy and ethics, and renewed friendships begun at Prague with Moritz Hartmann, Uffo Horn, and Alfred Meissner. To Lewald's "Europa," Herlosssohn's "Komet," Kuranda's "Grenzboten," and Oettinger's "Charivari" Mautner contributed poems, tales, and critical and literary articles, all of which were well received by the critics. He returned to Vienna in the autumn of 1847.

While visiting his mother in Triest, the revolutionary movement of 1848 began. Mautner hastened to Vienna, and during the revolution was active as a journalist, writing especially for Frankl's "Sonntagsblatt." He next acted as feuilletonist anddramatic critic for the "Ostdeutsche Post," the "Presse," and the "Wanderer." In 1851 his comedy, "Das Preislustspiel," took the second prize at the Hofburg Theater competition. In 1853 he traveled in Germany, Belgium, France, and England, returning to Vienna in 1854, to publish a series of sketches in the "Ostdeutsche Post" and in the "Familienbuch des Oesterreichischen Lloyd." From 1855 to 1864 he was officially connected with the Staatsbahngesellschaft; during that period he published several poetical works, and some minor comedies that were produced in Vienna. Early in 1865 he became assistant in the Imperial Court Library at Vienna, and afterward was engaged in the literary bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He wrote: "Gräfin Aurora" (Vienna, 1852); "Kleine Erzählungen" (ib. 1858); "In Catilinam, ein Kranz Geharnischter Sonette," against Napoleon (ib. 1859); "Während der Börse" (Berlin, 1863; played at the court theater); "Eine Frau, die an der Börse Spielt" (produced at the Vienna Carltheater); "Eglantine," drama (Vienna, 1863); "Die Sanduhr" (Berlin, 1871); "Eine Kriegslist," comedy (1878); "Von der Aar zur Donau," festival play (1881); "Ausgewählte Gedichte" (Vienna, 1889).

S. N. D.