Hermann Broch 
The Death of Virgil – Hermann Broch 

Hermann Broch, born on November 1, 1886, in Vienna, Austria, and died on May 30, 1951, in New Haven, Connecticut, was an Austrian writer, one of the greatest modernist writers of all time. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Hermann Broch is a novelist of the stature of Joyce and Proust. The Death of Virgil is considered by many as his masterpiece. The novel recreates the last day of the poet Virgil's life, hours during which he considers destroying the Aeneid and reflects on his life dedicated to art. The Death of Virgil is part of the famous collection: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Despre autor

Hermann Broch was born in Vienna, Austria, into a Jewish family, and for a time worked in his family's factory, although he kept his literary interests hidden. He was destined to work in his father's textile factory, so he studied at a technical school for textile manufacturing and at a spinning and weaving college. In 1909, he married Franziska von Rothermann, the daughter of a noble manufacturer. The following year, their son Hermann Friedrich Maria was born. Later, Broch began to show interest in another woman, and his marriage ended in divorce in 1923.
He was acquainted with Robert Musil, Rainer Maria Rilke, Elias Canetti, Franz Blei, his friend, writer, and former nude model Eva von Allesch, and many others. In 1927, he sold the textile factory and decided to study mathematics, philosophy, and psychology at the University of Vienna. He embarked on a literary career only around the age of 40. At 45, he published his first novel, ‘The Sleepwalkers.’ With the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in 1938, Broch was arrested, but an organized movement by friends – including James Joyce – managed to free him, and he was allowed to emigrate, first to the UK, then to the United States, where he finally finished his novel ‘The Death of Virgil.’