Bambi
Bambi, a Life in the Woods is a 1923 Austrian coming-of-age novel written by Felix Salten - now published as a beautiful hardback edition in the Everyman's Library Children's Classics series.
The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest. It is also, in its most complete translation, seen as a parable of the dangers and persecution faced by Jews in Europe.
Felix Salten (Author)
Salten was born Siegmund Salzmann on 6 September 1869 in Pest, Austria-Hungary.
His best remembered work is Bambi (1923). A translation in English was published by Simon & Schuster in 1928, and became a great success. In 1933, he sold the film rights to the American director Sidney Franklin for only $1,000, and Franklin later transferred the rights to the Walt Disney Studios, which formed the basis of the animated film Bambi (1942).
Life in Austria became perilous for Jews during the 1930s. In Germany, Adolf Hitler had Salten's books banned in 1936.
Felix Salten died on 8 October 1945, at the age of 76.
Kurt Wiese (Illustrator)
KURT WIESE (1887–1974) was a German-born book illustrator, who wrote and
illustrated twenty children's books and illustrated another three hundred for other authors. He moved to the United States in 1927, and his first big success was with the illustrations for the English translation of Felix Salten's Bambi.