Alfred Marnau

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 of Carpathian German origin.

In 1935, aged seventeen, he moved to Prague, where he supported himself as a radio actor, translator and journalist. Here he joined a circle of Czech poets including Josef Hora and Jaroslav Seifert. a cellist of Jewish heritage, also a Bratislava native. and the painter appears in Marnau's 1961 work Räuber-Requiem.

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. and "tend[ing] towards religiosity." Others have observed that even in his earliest work (Der Gesang der Maurer, 1936), his "Christian-humanist" credo is detectable. and was elected Chairman in 1973.

In 1981, Marnau and Sue Coote founded Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, of which Marnau was Chairman. Alfred Marnau died in London on 15 June 1999

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

Honours In 1993 Marnau was made Honorary Professor of Literature at the University of Vienna and awarded the medal Pro Cultura Hungarica. Reed's Elegy for Senta, dedicated to Senta Marnau, had appeared after her death in 1985.

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

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 New Poems. London: Enitharmon Press, 1984.