KORN, SELIG (FRIEDRICH N. NORK):

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By: Isidore Singer, Frederick T. Haneman

German writer and mythologist; born April 26, 1803, at Prague; died at Teplitz Oct. 16, 1850. Expelled from the gymnasium of his native town on account of a poem composed by him satirizing a teacher, he adopted a mercantile career, educating himself during his leisure hours. However, he soon became dissatisfied with his position, and in 1829 left for Leipsic. The following years he spent in Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Leipsic, and Stuttgart, engaged in literary work. After the death of his parents he became a convert to Christianity.

Among Korn's many writings, mostly satirical, some of which he published under one or the other of the noms de plume "Friedrich N. Nork" or "Spiritus Asper" and "Spiritus Lenis," may be mentioned the following: "Zeriel's des Infernalischen Schauspiel-directors Reise auf die Oberwelt," Leipsic, 1830; "Belial und Astarte, oder die Liebe der Teufel," 1832; "Panorama von Ofen und Pest," ib. 1833; "Figaro's Memoiren," 1833; "Die Seleniten," 1834; "Humoristische Charactergemälde," 1835; "Mythen der Perser," 1836; "Brahminen und Rabbinen," 1836; "Vergleichende Mythologie," 1836; "Der Prophet Elias, ein Sonnen-Mythus," 1837; "Versuche der Hieroglyphik," 1837; "Das Leben Mosis," 1838; "Rabbinische Quellen und Parallelen zu Neutestamentlichen Schriften," 1839; "Biblische Mythologie," 1842-43; "Etymologisch Symbolisches Realwörterbuch," 1843.

Neither his satirical works nor his mythological studies brought Korn any success; and his writings, with few exceptions, are now forgotten.

S. F. T. H.