Hermann Bahr

Hermann Anastas Bahr (German: [ˈhɛʁman ˈbaːɐ̯]; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic.

Biography

Born and raised in Linz, Bahr studied in Vienna, Graz, Czernowitz and Berlin, devoting special attention to philosophy, political economy, philology and law. During a prolonged stay in Paris, he discovered his interest in literature and art. He began working as an art critic, first in Berlin, then in Vienna. In 1890, he became associate editor of Berliner Freie Bühne (Berlin Free Stage), and later became associate editor and critic of the Deutsche Zeitung (German Newspaper). In 1891 he published Fin de siècle, a collection of short stories, six of which the Prussian authorities determined to be sexually obscene, fining Bahr 150 marks. The same year, he covered the Panama scandals and interviewed Émile Zola and met but did not interview Theodor Herzl, who was covering the same story.

In 1893, using his editorial mandate as a culture critic, Bahr toured several European countries, including Britain, Belgium, France, and Spain, to interview various notable figures about antisemitism. The interviews were published the next year as the book Der Antisemitismus: Ein internationales Interview. The format was inspired by an 1891 collection about literature, Enquête sur l'évolution littéraire, by the French journalist Jules Huret.

In 1894, Bahr began publication of Die Zeit (The Times), and was also editor of the Neue Wiener Tagblatt (New Vienna Daily Flyer) and the Oesterreichische Volkszeitung (Austrian Popular Newspaper).