Nordau

Nordau, MAX SIMON, born of Jewish descent at Budapest, 29th July 1849, studied medicine there, and made a series of travels in France, Spain, and Italy, in England, Scandinavia, and Russia, establishing himself as physician, first at Pesth (1878), and then at Paris (1886). He wrote several works on his travels, but became known by his work proving that current ethical, religious, and political principles were but Conventional Lies of Society (1883; 15th ed. 1890; Eng. trans. 1895); Paradoxes (1886), and Degeneration (1893; Eng. trans. 1895), maintaining that most that is conspicuous in contemporary art, literature, and the characters of the great men of the time, is but a proof of physical and psychical degeneration. His novels (Gefühlskomödie, &c.) have been more successful than his dramas and poems.