He was a literary all-rounder – passionate, astute, and always self-critical. Very early in life Friedrich Torberg devoted himself to the exciting but arduous fate of life as a writer. In 1930 his debut novel „Pupil Gerber” became an extraordinary international success. But Torberg was also a superb literary and theatre critic, as well as working as a satirist and translator – he is particularly well known for his translations of the work of Ephraim Kishon, the Israeli satirist. In a knowledgeable and affectionate manner, David Axmann depicts the life and works of this influential man of letters, who once confessed that he was always doing too many things at once, and, as none of it was a complete disaster, kept doing it for the rest of his life.
David Axmann, journalist, writer and editor of the „Wiener Journal”, edited the complete works of Friedrich Torberg, comprising ten volumes, in collaboration with Marietta Torberg. When Mrs Torberg died in 2000 she made Axmann the sole literary executor of her husband’s estate. He is currently working on a project to publish the correspondence between Friedrich Torberg and Ephraim Kishon, in collaboration with Lisa Kishon, Mr Kishon’s widow.