Max Nordau

Max Nordau (1849 - 1923) was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Pest, in the Kingdom of Hungary. He obtained a medical degree from the University of Pest in 1872 and travelled Europe for six years before practising medicine in Budapest in 1878. In 1880 he relocated to Paris, where he remained most of his life. He felt connected to German culture, classed himself as an agnostic, and took a Christian wife. His literary career began while in Budapest as contributor to Der Zwischenact. In Paris...See more

Max Nordau (1849 - 1923) was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Pest, in the Kingdom of Hungary. He obtained a medical degree from the University of Pest in 1872 and travelled Europe for six years before practising medicine in Budapest in 1878. In 1880 he relocated to Paris, where he remained most of his life. He felt connected to German culture, classed himself as an agnostic, and took a Christian wife. His literary career began while in Budapest as contributor to Der Zwischenact. In Paris he was a correspondent for Die Neue Freie Presse. In his lifetime he became best known for The Conventional Lies of Our Civilization (1883), a vitriolic attack on 19th-century institutions. Following the Dreyfus Affair, he experienced an awakening and became advisor to his friend Theodor Herzl, later playing a central role in the early World Zionist Congresses. In death he is remembered primarily for Degeneration. See less