Pen name Jan van Straaten Role Literary agent Genre non-fiction, juvenile Parents Louis Fles | Subject music, literature Ex-spouse Ruth Grunwald Name Barthold Fles | |
Born February 7, 1902
Amsterdam, Netherlands ( 1902-02-07 ) Occupation literary agent, author, translator, editor and publisher Nationality Dutch-American (Jewish atheist) Period 1928-1982 (occasional writing)
1933-1986 (literary agency)
1935-1943 (translating) Died December 19, 1989, Laren, North Holland, Netherlands Books East Germany, Slavonic Rhapsody: The Life of Antonin Dvorak | ||
Barthold "Bart" Fles (February 7, 1902 – December 19, 1989) was a Dutch-American literary agent, author, translator, editor and publisher. Among his many clients were Elias Canetti, Raymond Loewy, Heinrich Mann, Joseph Roth, Felix Salten, Ignazio Silone, Bruno Walter and Arnold Zweig.
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Life and career
Barthold Fles was born in Amsterdam into an assimilating Jewish family. His father, Louis Fles, was a successful businessman and an activist against religion. Barthold had a tense relationship with his father, who wanted him into his business, while the young Fles was mostly interested in reading. Barthold read in Dutch, German, English, and French, anytime and at a tremendous pace. He did study business at a vocational school and found employment at De Lange publishers. In 1923 he left for the United States.
In New York Fles found temporary employment as a violinist, painting apartments, selling vacuum cleaners and working for publishers. In 1933, he established a literary agency in Manhattan, New York. Initially many of his clients were German refugees and other foreign authors. He organized evenings for these authors in New York, in order to get them acquainted with the American book market. From the 1940s onwards, however, most of his clientele was from the United States.
In 1936 Barthold married Ruth Grünwald, a dancer at the Metropolitan Opera who had been just one year in the United States. Ruth assisted Barthold at his literary agency. Later she left him.
Fles was a special figure in the lives of many of his clients. He kept closely in touch, encouraged his authors to concentrate on their art, and arranged fellowships with literary funds. Still, some clients moved on to larger agencies, or were later represented by publishing houses, lawyers, or by themselves, often after long relationships. An exception was Anaïs Nin who left him soon after she joined his client circle, citing unorganized business conduct as a reason. "Bonjour, friend, and good-bye, literary agent", she wrote to him. In biographical notes on Fles, however, she stated that he had refused to take on her boyfriend Henry Miller. Miller himself also had hard feelings, calling Fles dishonest and part of the publishing establishment. Fles was influential during several decades in getting blacklisted authors published.
While he had no children of his own, Barthold Fles wrote two juvenile books: Slavonic rhapsody: the life of Antonín Dvořák (1948) under the pseudonym Jan van Straaten (Van Straaten being his mother's maiden name), and East Germany (1973). He also wrote introductions to compilations and many articles and translated several books from German to English. Among the translations was another children's book, Bambi's Children by Felix Salten. His non-fictional writings and his translations received considerable praise, except for his book on Germany. This book was clearly outside his (music and literature) expertise and sealed his writing for publication, set aside an intro to More by Dell Shannon (1982) by his prolific client Elizabeth Linington.
In 1986, at the age of 84, Fles closed his agency. Subsequently, he returned to his native Netherlands, where he spent his last three years in Laren's Rosa Spier home for retired artists. At Rosa Spier he was approached by Madeleine Rietra, a Dutch expert on German literature, who posthumously published his letter exchange with clients Joseph Roth (bookchapter in 1991) and Heinrich Mann (book in 1993), along with commentaries and biographical notes.
Death
Barthold Fles, a diabetic for several decades, died on December 19, 1989, aged 87.
Written
Compiled
Translated
Published
These German poetry books were published by Barthold Fles Verlag, New York