P.E.N. Zentrum deutschsprachiger Autoren im Ausland

Egon Schwarz

A leading scholar of 19th- and 20th-century German literature, Egon Schwarz, Ph.D., is one of the United States' most respected Germanists and is internationally recognized for his writing on the work of poet Rainer Maria Rilke and novelists Arthur Schnitzler, Herman Hesse and Thomas Mann, among others.

Schwarz, the Rosa May Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and professor emeritus in German in Arts & Science, taught at Washington University for 32 years, during which time his book “Verbannung” (1964), the first major study of the literary exiles who left Germany because of Adolf Hitler’s regime, was published.

Schwarz’s research approaches literature from a historical perspective, studying history’s influence on literary works as well as the influence of an audience on the meaning of a work. This approach was evident in the 1970 publication of an article on why young Americans during the 1960s elevated Hesse to the status of cult hero. Schwarz argued that Americans discovered aspects of Hesse’s work that had gone unnoticed by German scholars and the German reading public. He then created an ongoing controversy in 1972 by emphasizing the political propensities of the mystical poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

Born on August 8, 1922, in Vienna, Austria, to Jewish parents, Schwarz was not yet 16 in March 1938 when the National Socialists assumed power in Austria, turning his life upside down. He and his family fled Vienna and sought refuge in Bratislava, Prague and then Paris. After many harrowing experiences, the family finally settled in South America. Moving from Bolivia to Chile and to Ecuador, he spent over 10 years in various occupations including mining. In 1948 he earned a Bachiller en Humanidades at Colegio Cuenca in Ecuador. He moved to the United States to attend Ohio State University in 1949 and earned a bachelor of arts in 1950 and a master’s degree in 1951. He earned a doctorate in German literature from the University of Washington in 1954.

His first position was at Harvard University as an assistant professor where he taught between 1954 and 1961. He joined Washington University as associate professor in 1961 and was named a full professor in 1963. From 1967 to1971, Schwarz chaired Washington University’s Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures in Arts & Sciences. He was named the Rosa May Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities in 1975 and retired from teaching in 1993.

Schwarz has been a visiting scholar and guest lecturer at numerous universities across the globe, including the University of Hamburg, Germany; University of California, Berkeley; Ohio State University; Rutgers University; University of Otago, New Zealand; University of Graz, Austria; and University of Örebro, Sweden.

He is the recipient of a Joseph von Eichendorff Medal (1986), the Austrian “Ehrenzeichen” for Art and Science (1990), the Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship Prize (1995), the Grand “Ehrenzeichen” for Services to the Republic of Austria (2007) and the Cotta Prize for Literature of the city of Stuttgart (2008). His many fellowships include those of the Guggenheim Foundation (1957-58), American Council of Learned Societies (1962-63), Fulbright Foundation (1962-63), National Endowment for the Humanities (1970-71) and German Academic Exchange Service (1974).

He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Vienna, Austria, from the University of Örebro, Sweden and from Washington University, St. Louis, USA

His publications include several monographs, several collections of essays and numerous scholarly articles. His book titles include: “Hofmannsthal und Calderon” (1962), “Joseph von Eichendorff” (1972), “Das verschluckte Schluchzen — Poesie und Politik bei Rainer Maria Rilke” (1972), a travelog “Die japanische Mauer” (2002). His autobiography “Keine Zeit für Eichendorff” appeared in1979 and was republished in 2006 as a paperback under the title “Unfreiwillige Wanderjahre.” An English translation was published in 2002 titled “Refuge: Chronicle of a Flight from Hitler.” He also has contributed essays and book reviews to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.”

Schwarz lives in St. Louis. He and his late wife, Dorle, have a son, Rudolf Schwarz; and two daughters, Caroline Wellbery, M.D. Ph.D.; and Gabriela Eaglesome. He also has four grandchildren: Vanessa and Julian Wellbery; and Raphael and Adam Schwarz.