Alfred Marnau

Alfred Marnau
Born
Alfred Franz Ludwig Marnau

(1918-04-24)24 April 1918
Bratislava, Austria-Hungary
Died15 June 1999(1999-06-15) (aged 81)
London, United Kingdom
OccupationsNovelist, poet
Spouse
Senta Polányi
​
(m. 1941)​
Children1
Writing career
Pen nameFred Marnau
PeriodModernism

Alfred Marnau (24 April 1918 – 15 June 1999), also known as Fred Marnau, was a poet and novelist in both German and English and, later in life, a traditionalist Catholic activist.

Life

Early life

Alfred Franz Ludwig Marnau was born on 24 April 1918 in Pressburg (now Bratislava), Austria-Hungary, to a German-speaking Catholic family[1][2][3][4] of Carpathian German origin.[5][6]

In 1935, aged seventeen, he moved to Prague, where he supported himself as a radio actor, translator and journalist.[7][2][8] Here he joined a circle of Czech poets including Josef Hora and Jaroslav Seifert.[7] When the Wehrmacht invaded Czechoslovakia, he returned to Bratislava.[7]

At a musical evening in 1938, he met Senta Polányi (born 1921),[9] a cellist of Jewish heritage, also a Bratislava native.[1][5][6] The same year, Senta moved to England to escape the Nazis; and Marnau followed her in August 1939.[1][8] In England, Marnau was interned as an "untrustworthy alien" until Whitsun 1941.[1][2] Senta's family perished at Auschwitz.[5]

In 1944 Marnau befriended Oskar Kokoschka[2] and worked for a while as the painter's secretary.[5] Kokoschka drew his portrait in 1960 or 1961;[10][11] and the painter appears in Marnau's 1961 work Räuber-Requiem.[4] In 1986, he contributed to the catalogue of the Tate's Kokoschka exhibition;[1] and in 1992 he collaborated with Kokoschka's widow Olda on an edition of the painter's letters.[12]

Literary activity

Marnau published his first book of poetry, Der Gesang der Maurer, in 1936, aged eighteen, which was confiscated by Czech authorities because of its "pacifist" content.[13][1][6][7]

In London, Marnau associated with the "New Romantic" poets, such as Alex Comfort, Wrey Gardiner and Herbert Read. With Wrey Gardiner he ran the Grey Walls Press and edited Poetry Quarterly.[2] He was the editor of New Road, published by Grey Walls, from 1945 to 1946.[2]

Marnau's poetry has been described as "symbolist"[14] and "tend[ing] towards religiosity."[15] Others have observed that even in his earliest work (Der Gesang der Maurer, 1936), his "Christian-humanist" credo is detectable.[6][8]

Catholic activism

Marnau joined the Latin Mass Society in 1969[16][17] and was elected Chairman in 1973.[1] He resigned as Chairman of the Latin Mass Society in 1982, but renewed his involvement in July 1988, being elected Vice-President.[16] Marnau was a signatory to the 1971 statement in favour of the Tridentine rite, which led to the "Agatha Christie indult".[18][19]

In 1981, Marnau and Sue Coote founded Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, of which Marnau was Chairman.[16][19] He resigned as Chairman of Pro Ecclesia following the death of his wife in 1985.[16]

Marnau joined the Order of Malta in 1986, making his simple vows as a Knight of Justice on 21 May 1992 and his solemn (perpetual) vows on 16 November 1995.[1]

Later life and death

In addition to his literary activities, he ran a travel agency, Pilgrim Holidays, with his wife until her death in 1985.[1]

Senta Marnau died 15 March 1985 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery.[20] Alfred Marnau died in London on 15 June 1999[2][3] and is also buried in Highgate Cemetery.[21]

Marnau's daughter Corinna entered the Benedictine abbey of St. Cecilia, Ryde, Isle of White, where she made her solemn profession in 1988.[16][22]

Honours

In 1993 Marnau was made Honorary Professor of Literature at the University of Vienna and awarded the medal Pro Cultura Hungarica.[1][16] After his death in 1999 he received the Goldenes Verdienstzeichen of the city of Vienna.[1]

In literature

Jeremy Reed's Elegy for Alfred Marnau appeared in 2000.[23] Reed's Elegy for Senta, dedicated to Senta Marnau, had appeared after her death in 1985.[24]

Marnau's daughter, Corinna, known by her religious name, Sister Maximilian, wrote a memoir, The Threefold Garland, under the pen-name Severine Kirchhof.[16][25]

Works

In German

Novels

  • Der steinerne Gang (part 1 of Die Mitwirkenden). Nuremberg: Nest Verlag, 1948. English tr., as Free among the Dead, London: Harvill, 1950. 2nd ed., Nördlingen: Greno, 1989.
  • Das Verlangen nach der Hölle (part 2 of Die Mitwirkenden). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1952. English tr., as The Guest, London: Thames and Hudson, 1956. 2nd ed. Nördlingen: Greno, 1987
  • Polykarp und Zirpelin Imperator (part 3 of Die Mitwirkenden). Nördlingen: Greno, 1987.

Poetry

  • Wounds of the Apostles, with facing-page English translation by Ernst Sigler. London: Grey Walls Press, 1944.
  • Death of the Cathedral: Der Tod der Kathedrale, with facing-page English translation by Ernst Sigler. London: Grey Walls Press, 1946.
  • Räuber-Requiem: Gedichtauswahl. Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag, 1961.
  • Vogelfrei: Frühe Gedichte 1935–1940. Nördlingen: Greno, 1988.

In English

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Obituary, Chancellors Report of the Grand Priory and British Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1999).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Alfred Marnau," Nachlässe in Österreich - Personenlexikon.
  3. 1 2 Alfred MARNAU, The Gazette.
  4. 1 2 Biography, kulturstiftung.org.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Biography, epsilon.sk.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Ernst Hochberger, "Alfred Marnau, großer karpatendeutscher Dichter aus Pressburg," Karpatenblatt, Jg. 18, Nr. 4 (April 2009).
  7. 1 2 3 4 Peter König, article on Marnau in Literaturlexikon: Autoren und Werke deutscher Sprache, ed. Walther Killy, vol. 7 (Munich: Bertelsmann, 1990).
  8. 1 2 3 Paul Tischler, "Dem Dichter des Todes, Alfred Marnau, zum 80. Geburtstag," Karpatenblatt, Jg. 7, Nr. 8 (August 1998).
  9. ↑ Senta Polanyi, Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database.
  10. ↑ Bildnis Alfred Marnau, ca. 1961, mutualart.com.
  11. ↑ J. P. Hodin, Oskar Kokoschka: The Artist and His Time (New York Graphic Society, 1966).
  12. ↑ Oskar Kokoschka: Letters, 1905–1976, ed. Olda Kokoschka and Alfred Marnau, tr. Mary Whittall, foreword by E. H. Gombrich (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992).
  13. ↑ Biography, enitharmon.co.uk.
  14. ↑ Hilary Spurling, Paul Scott: A Life (London: Hutchinson, 1990).
  15. ↑ James Keery, "Burns Singer and Fitzrovia," in Eratica 1, ed. Simon Jenner (Waterloo Press, 2001).
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Obituary, Latin Mass Society Newsletter (August 1999).
  17. ↑ Alfred Marnau, "The 1971 'English' Indult - a Recollection," lms.org.uk.
  18. ↑ "1971 Statement by Scholars, Intellectuals, and Artists Living in England," institute-christ-king.org.
  19. 1 2 Joseph Shaw, "When Non-Catholics Tried to Save the Latin Mass," One Peter Five (29 December 2023).
  20. ↑ "Senta Marnau," findagrave.com.
  21. ↑ Jeremy Reed, This Is How You Disappear (London: Enitharmon Press, 2007).
  22. ↑ Gertrude of Helfta, Herald of Divine Love, tr. Margaret Winkworth, introduction by Sr. Maximilian [Corinna] Marnau (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1993).
  23. ↑ Jeremy Reed, Elegy for Alfred Marnau (printed for the author at the Tragara Press, January 2000).
  24. ↑ Jeremy Reed, Elegy for Senta (printed for the author at the Tragara Press, 1985).
  25. ↑ Severine Kirchhof, The Threefold Garland (Pan, 2000).
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