1864-1918

Frank Wedekind (originally Benjamin Franklin Wedekind) was born July 24, 1864 in Hannover Germany to Friedrich Wilhelm Wedekind, a German American physician, and Emilie Kammerer, a Swiss opera singer. At age 20 Frank moved to Munich, where he would remain until his death on March 9, 1918. Wedekind held several different jobs throughout his life. He wrote advertising jingles for Maggi soup and as a journalist for the satirical weekly Simplicissimus (work he was imprisoned for). Frank also worked in a circus, and though there is some discrepancy about what he did within its administration, the episodic and theatrical nature of the circus was apparent as an influence on his work. He became an actor and singer “appearing with acclaim in the satirical CABARET Die elf Scarfrchter (The Eleven Executioners) in Munich” (Banham). Frank Wedekind championed insidious individuality, freedom of expression, women’s rights, anti-anti-semitism, and other societally progressive causes. Frank died due to complications of a premature surgery on a hernia, which he developed from going back to work prematurely after an appendectomy.

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“The title "Diary of an Erotic Life" is not inappropriate; young Frank, especially during his Parisian years, was a great womanizer. Not until 1906, when he married the young Austrian actress Tilly Newes, 22 years his junior, did he become fiercely monogamous and ferociously, needlessly jealous. It was this jealousy that killed him. For he felt that he had to be, creatively and sexually, incessantly active to preserve his wife's devotion: Tilly tried both separation and suicide, but only because of his insane jealousy” (Simon). He also may have had some sexual leanings towards attraction to juveniles, sadism and homosexuality, but largely kept himself in check. He did, however, love women and would often use what little money he had to pay for sex and platonic company. His views of liberal sexuality apparent within his work are also indicative of a life of somewhat reckless promiscuity.