cover image My European Heritage: Life Among Great Men of Letters

My European Heritage: Life Among Great Men of Letters

Brigitte Bermann Fischer. Branden Books, $18.95 (275pp) ISBN 978-0-8283-1897-6

These memoirs outline the story of one of the world's great publishing houses, S. Fischer Verlag, founded in Berlin by the author's father. With the aid of a diary, kept since the age of nine and crammed with literary memorabilia, Fischer evokes the atmosphere of her parental home, a mecca for writers and musicians, then describes how, after her father's death in 1934, she and her husband escaped the Nazis, established an American branch of the company and rebuilt the firm in Europe after the war. Of particular interest are the many letters between Fischer and her father and an amazing array of famous writers, including Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Thornton Wilder and Boris Pasternakwarm personal letters, often long and rich in intellectual content. Photos. (June)