Bern, Maximilian

German author; born at Kherson, South Russia, Nov. 18, 1849, where his father practised medicine. On the latter's death Bern and his mother went to Vienna that he might complete his education. The loss of his fortune forced him to abandon his studies at the university, and in 1873 he became private tutor to the apprentices at an equestrian school.

Bern soon tired of this occupation and turned to literature for a livelihood. His first novel, "Auf Schwankem Grunde," met with considerable success, though in this, as in fact in most of his writings, Bern is inclined to the gloomy despair of the majority of Slavonic writers. The success of his first novel enabled him to visit Berlin, Hamburg, Leipsic, Dresden, Frankfort, and Munich, at all of which places he studied assiduously. In 1886 he went to Paris, and a year later married a young Austrian actress, Olga Wohlbrück. In 1888 he settled in Berlin. Bern is the author of: "Gestrüpp," 1876; "Deutsche Lyrik seit Göthe's Tode," 1877; "Meine Geschiedene Frau," 1878; "Sich Selbst im Wege," a sketch of stage-life, 1877; "Ein Stummer Musikant," 1879; "Liliput," 1879; "Anthologie für die Kinderstube," 1879; "Illustrirter Hausschatz für die Jugend," 1880; "Aus der Gesellschaft," an almanac, 1881-82; "Am Eigenen Herd," 1886; "Deklamatorium," anthology, 1887; "Lustige Stunden," 1887; "Himmelan!" 1889; "Christliches Gedenkbuch," 1893; "Evangelisches Deklamatorium," 1895.

Bibliography:

  * Das Geistige Berlin, pp. 21, 22;
  * Kürschner, Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, p. 89.



S. E. Ms.