Hoffmann, Camill
HOFFMANN, CAMILL
HOFFMANN, CAMILL (1878–1944), Czech poet, anthologist, and translator who wrote in German. A member of *Hofmannsthal's circle, Hoffmann wrote neo-Romantic and impressionistic verse and was considered an important lyric poet. In 1902 he collaborated with Stefan *Zweig in the translation and publication of an anthology of Baudelaire's works entitled Gedichte in Vers und Prosa, and he also published translations of Balzac and Charles-Louis Philippe. Hoffmann's first original collection of verse, Adagio stiller Abende (1902), was followed by Die Vase (1911) and Glocken meiner Heimat (1936). He was literary editor of the Viennese periodical Die Zeit and of the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten. In 1912 he published a comprehensive anthology of Austrian poetry entitled Deutsche Lyrik aus Oesterreich seit Grillparzer. Hoffmann was a close friend of the Czechoslovak president, Thomas Masaryk, whose writings he translated into German. From 1920 until 1938 he was counselor at the Czech embassy in Berlin and head of its press bureau. Hoffmann was deported from Czechoslovakia by the Nazi regime and died in Auschwitz.
[Harry Zohn]