SUSMAN, MARGARETE

SUSMAN, MARGARETE (1874–1966), German essayist and poet. She lived in Hamburg (where she was born), Frankfurt, and – from the Nazi period – in Zurich. Margarete Susman combined scholarship and existentialist philosophy with considerable poetic talent.   Her verse collections include Mein Land (1901) and Lieder von Tod und Erloesung (1922) and a selection of her poetry is contained in Aus sich wandelnder Zeit (1953). Her essays on Jewish problems include Das Buch Hiob und das Schicksal des juedischen Volkes (1946), Gestalten und Kreise (1945), and Deutung biblishcher Gestalten (1955). Her major works include: Vom Sinn der Liebe (1912), a philosophical analysis of the tragic nature of love; Frauen der Romantik (1929), a collection of essays on Caroline and Dorothea von Schlegel, Rahel (Levin) Varnhagen von Ense, and Bettina Brentano; and Deutung einer grossen Liebe (1951), on the friendship between Goethe and Charlotte von Stein. In her 90th year she published her autobiography, Ich habe viele Leben gelebt (1964). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Auf gespaltenem Pfad. Festschrift fuer Margarete Susman (1964; incl. bibl.). (Sol Liptzin)