Franz Theodor Csokor (6 September 1885 – 5 January 1969) was an
Austrian author and dramatist, particularly well known for his
expressionist dramas. His most successful and best-known piece is 3. November 1918, about the downfall of the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In many of his works, Csokor deals with themes of
antiquity and
Christianity.
Life
Csokor was born into a respectable middle-class family in
Vienna; the name Csokor is
Hungarian and means "bunch [of flowers]". In his youth, he began studying courses in
art history, but dropped out. From early on he felt a calling to be a dramatist, and composed his first pieces before
World War I. Csokor spent 1913–14 in
Saint Petersburg, where he was drafted as a soldier in the war. He would later be employed at the Austrian War Archives in Vienna. From 1922 to 1928, Csokor worked as a
dramaturge at the
Raimundtheater and the
Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna.
From 1933, he was a convinced opponent of
National Socialism; he was among the signatories of a statement against National Socialism at the
PEN congress in
Dubrovnik of that year. In 1938, after the
annexation of Austria to
Nazi Germany, he emigrated voluntarily. He spent
World War II in
Poland,
Romania and
Hungary before ending up in
Italy after the fall of
Mussolini in 1944, where he lived in
Rome. There, he worked for the
BBC. Despite travel restrictions in place at the time, Csokor returned to Vienna in 1946, dressed in a
British uniform.
During the
Allied occupation of Austria which lasted until 1955, Csokor settled in the British sector of Vienna, working as a freelance journalist for newspapers such as the Wiener Zeitung. In 1947, he became president of the Austrian PEN Club, in which he remained an active member until well into his old age; in 1968, he became vice-president of International PEN. After his death, the Austrian PEN Club named a literary award, the Franz-Theodor-Csokor-Preis, after him in 1970.
A convinced
humanist, Csokor spoke up in his dramas for peace, freedom and human rights. His creative life was also closely connected with the
labour movement. He died in Vienna in 1969, and is buried in a grave of honour in the
Zentralfriedhof.[1] The Csokorgasse, a street in Vienna, was named after him in 1975. In 1994, the Austrian Post Office published a special stamp in his honour.
Decorations and awards
1937 – Golden Laurel of the Warsaw Academy of Letters
Lilly Adler: Die dramatischen Werke von Franz Theodor Csokor. Vienna: university dissertation 1950.
Joseph P. Strelka (ed.): Immer ist Anfang. Der Dichter Franz Theodor Csokor. Lang, Frankfurt am Main and elsewhere. 1990.
ISBN3-261-04254-0.
Eckart Früh: F. Th. Csokor, ein Frondeur. In: 3. November 1918. Der verlorene Sohn. Gottes General., Ephelant 1993, pp. 249–254.
ISBN3-900766-07-X.
Harald Klauhs: Franz Theodor Csokor. Leben und Werk bis 1938 im Überblick. Heinz, Akad. Verl., Stuttgart 1988. (= Stuttgarter Arbeiten zur Germanistik; 204)
ISBN3-88099-208-8.
Ulrich N. Schulenburg (ed.): Lebensbilder eines Humanisten. Ein Franz Theodor Csokor-Buch. Löcker, Vienna 1992.
ISBN3-85409-182-6.
Paul Wimmer: Der Dramatiker Franz Theodor Csokor. Wagner, Innsbruck 1981. (= Dramatiker, Stücke, Perspektiven; 4)
ISBN3-7030-0086-4.