Hello. With the help of my German professor, I've learned a little more about the book and Rideamus. He writes:
Because it is written in old-german script, it is probably "Die Erfindung der Sittlichkeit" or "The Invention of Morality". Of Fritz Oliven himself, the only information that I could find on him is that he is Jewish, and was a lawyer before he turned to writing. In 1939, he fled Germany for Brazil and died in 1956.
There you have it. Thankfully, the interior pages of the book are not in the old script, and are far easier to read. Also, here is a link to a Rideamus bibliography. Die Erfindung der Sittlichkeit is not present, probably because it is out of print.
Finally, my professor mentioned there isn't a whole lot of information on him, even in German, making me even more excited to embark on this project.
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2 comments:
"Dear Mr Schley
I can assure you that there is a whole Rideamus circle in Germany.
As you probably are aware he died in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in the fifties. At the time his books were being reiscovered in Germany and one posthumous book appeared after his death.
His family lives on in Brazil, his son Klaus Oliven has written a history of the family which was published in a limited edition. My sister has a copy of the book.
In fact my sister collaborated in the Portuguese translation of excerpts from his writings which were published under the auspices o the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre.
Klaus Oliven has a vast documentation.
At the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, the main expert is Professor Michael Korfman.
Frtz Oliven's granddaughter Judith is an English teacher (in fact the whole family speaks English) and is married to the novelist Moacyr Scliar, a member of the Brazilian Academy of writers (Academia Brasileira de Letras), incidentally a friend of E.L.Doctorow.
His grandson is a respected Sociologist teaching ate the University of São Paulo.
If you are seriously interested in Rideamus, please don't fail to contact me. I will put you through to my sister. Incidentally, being South Africans we are also fluent in English.
Please note that some of his plays, or musicals he wrote the libretto of are being produced non-stop since the fifties.
Ralph J. Hofmann
There is just published a biography of Rideamus by Ute-Christiane Hauenschild.
Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2009.
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