LOTHAR, RUDOLF

LOTHAR, RUDOLF (pseudonym of Rudolf Spitzer ; 1865–1943), Austrian playwright and journalist. Lothar, a native of Budapest, became a contributor to the Viennese Neue Freie Presse. He wrote many dramas and comedies, some in verse. Erotic in content, they reveal clever psychological insight. The most popular were Koenig Harlekin (1900), Casanovas Sohn (1920), and Der Werwolf (1921). Lothar also wrote operas and the libretto for D'Albert's Tiefland (1904). His historical study, Das Wiener Burgtheater, was expanded in several editions from 1899 to 1934. His essays on drama, which include Henrik Ibsen (1902), and Das deutsche Drama der Gegenwart (1905), maintain the view that drama is applied psychology. Lothar's interest in recording techniques inspired Die Sprechmaschine (1924) and his work as editor of the Jahrbuch fuer Phonotechnik und Phonokunst (1925). A travel book, Zwischendrei Welten (1926), includes an account of his trip to Palestine and a study of Jewish culture.

bibliography:

J.W. Nagl and J. Zeidler, Deutsch-Oesterreichische Literaturgeschichte, 4 (1937), 1448. add. bibliography: H.A. Strauss and W. Roeder (eds.), International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Émigrés 1933–1945, 2 (1983), 750; G. Ducrey, "La Collection Auguste Rondel et le répertoire germanique: Le Cas d'Arlequin-Roi de Rudolph Lothar (1902)," in: Ateliers, 18 (1998), 67–76; M. Rózsa, "Rudolph Lothar – Herausgeber und Theaterkritiker. Oesterreichisch-ungarische Kontakte in der Wiener Wochenschrift 'Die Wage' 1898–1907," in: Biblos, 49:1 (2000), 157–168; F.P. Kirsch, "Terra Baixa, Tiefland und das Oesterreichbild des Rudolf Lothar," in: M. Siguán and K. Wagner (eds. and intro.), Transkulturelle Beziehungen: Spanien und Oesterreich im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (2004), 27–35.

[Samuel L. Sumberg]