Adolf Frisé


Adolf Frisé was a German journalist, author and editor. He was the editor of the literary works of the Austrian philosophical writer Robert Musil.

Life

Frisé grew up in Viersen in the Lower Rhine region where he attended the Erasmus von Rotterdam Gymnasium. The German writer and historian of culture Gustav René Hocke was a friend and fellow student there. After completing his secondary education, he went on to study at Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg. In Heidelberg he studied under Friedrich Gundolf and took his doctorate in German Studies in 1932. He then worked as a freelance writer in Berlin until 1940 when he was called up for national service between 1940 and 1945.
Adolf Frisé was married to the writer and journalist Maria Frisé.

Robert Musil

After the war Adolf Frisé arranged to meet the widow of Robert Musil, Martha Musil, in order to secure the literary estate of the author who had died in 1942. Musil had published the first two volumes of his acclaimed novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften in 1930 and 1933 and Martha Musil had decided to publish the unfinished chapters and some other materials from his estate in 1943 whilst in exile in Switzerland.
Frisé began publishing the collected works of Robert Musil in three volumes from 1952 to 1957, leading to the rediscovery of Musil in the German-speaking world. The project was to last several decades and led to the [|definitive edition] of his works published between 1978 and 1981. This included annotated editions of Musil's diaries and letters. In 1992 the first CD-ROM format [|edition] of materials from the unpublished estate of Robert Musil appeared, with Adolf Frisé as co-editor.
In 1974 Frisé became a professor at the University of Vienna and in 1979 was named honorary President of the International Robert Musil Society, today based in Klagenfurt. In 1982 he was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Klagenfurt.
Frisé's main occupation was that of journalist, first in Hamburg and then as editor at the Hessischer Rundfunk based in Frankfurt am Main, where from 1956 to 1962 he produced the Abendstudio'' programme.
In addition Frisé wrote travel reports, pieces for theatre and novels.

Definitive edition of Musil edited by Frisé

Robert Musil – Gesammelte Werke. Ed. Adolf Frisé. Reinbek: Rowohlt:
Der literarische Nachlaß. CD-ROM-Edition. Ed. Friedbert Aspetsberger, Karl Eibl and Adolf Frisé. Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1992
In addition, Frisé published numerous single-volume editions of the works of Robert Musil.

Works by Adolf Frisé