Fun Facts Friday: Frederic Prokosch

Frederic Prokosch (17 May, 1906 – 2 June, 1989) was an American writer, known for his novels, poetry, excellent translations, and literary criticism. He is mostly known for his novels The Asiatics and The Seven Who Fled.

Books by Frederic Prokosch*

Fun Facts about Frederic Prokosch:

1. Mr. Prokosch was born in Madison, WI. His family of intellectuals (his father, an Austrian immigrant, was a professor at Yale University) traveled a lot.
2. He was an excellent squash player, and represented the Yale Club (where he got his Ph.D from Yale University) in the New York State championship.
3. During World War II, Mr. Prokosch was a cultural attaché in Sweden.
4. After the war Mr. Prokosch settled in Rome as a lecturer in the University of Rome.
5. Considered as a master of the craft, Mr. Prokosch’s had a following of notable figures including Thomas Mann, Sinclair Lewis, Albert Camus, Thornton Wilder, T.S. Eliot, and Dylan Thomas.
6. Among Mr. Prokosch’s literary accomplishments is the fact that he was an accomplished forger. He created a set of pamphlets he tried to pass off as originals.
7. Eventually Mr. Prokosch confessed to his forgery “prank”, which was written about by Nicolas Barker in The Butterfly Books: An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Twentieth Century Pamphlets.
8. Because he confessed, Mr. Prokosch’s reputation remained intact, even though the “prank” lasted several years.
9. Mr. Prokosch was named a Commander in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government in 1984 and awarded the Volterra Prize in 1986.
10. The novels of Mr. Prokosch were translated into 15 languages.

Books by Frederic Prokosch*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account