Klabund, born Alfred Henschke in 1890 in Krossen, was the son of an apothecary. At the age of 16 he came down with tuberculosis, which the doctors initially misdiagnosed as pneumonia. The illness stayed with him for the rest of his short life.
After he completed his Abitur (roughly equivalent to graduating from high school), which he completed with the highest marks in 1909 in Frankfurt , he studied chemistry and pharmacology in Munich. He soon, however, changed his plans and studied philosophy, philology, and theater in Munich, Berlin, and Lausanne. He had already encountered Bohemianism in Munich through the theater scholar Artur Kutscher, and through others he came to know Frank Wedekind. In 1912 he quit his studies and took on the pseudonym Klabund. In the style of Peter Hille he took on the role of the vagabond poet. A first volume of poetry was published under the title Morgenrot! Klabund! Die Tage dämmern! (Dawn! Klabund! The Days Break!) The name Klabund goes back to a north- and northeast-German name and was devised by him and others as a combination of Klabautermann (a devious hobgoblin of German folklore) and Vagabund (vagabond).
In 1913 he came into contact with Alfred Kerr's Magazine PAN, though he continued to publish in the magazines Jugend (Youth) and Simplicissimus. Beginning in 1914 he worked with Die Schaubühne (The Show Stage) which later changed its name to Die Weltbühne (The World Stage). When World War I broke out, he greeted it excitedly and, not unlike many other writers of the time, wrote various patriotic poems. He was not drafted into the military due to the weakness of his lungs and, indeed, in these years he often had to spend time in Swiss sanatoria. During this time he began to develop an interest in far-eastern literature, which he began to translate and adapt from. Over the course of the war, Klabund's outlook changed and he became an opponent of the war. He even went so far as to publish in 1917 an open letter to Kaiser Wilhelm II in the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung calling for his abdication, as a result of which Klabund was charged with treason and insulting the Kaiser.
In 1918 he married Brunhilde Herberle, whom he had met in a sanatorium for lung patients. She died later that year after complications from a premature birth. 1918 also saw the publication of Klabund's most popular prose piece, the novel Bracke.
in 1920 Klabund dedicated a short romantic novel Marietta to his girlfriend and muse Marietta di Monaco.
In 1923 he married actress Carola Neher. Then in 1925, his play Der Kreidekreis (The Chalk Circle), based on a Chinese story, was first put on in Meißen. The Berlin performances of the play later that year achieved great success; (Bertolt Brecht later adapted the play into his Kaukasischer Kreidekreis (The Caucasian Chalk Circle)). In the following years, Klabund wrote regularly for cabarets, for example for Schall und Rauch (Noise and Smoke). His folksy poems and songs achieved great popularity.
In May 1928, during a stay in Italy, he fell ill with pneumonia, which, together with his never quite cured tuberculosis, was life-threatening. He was brought to Davos for treatment, but he died shortly thereafter. He was buried in Krosno Odrza?skie and was eulogized by his friend and fellow writer Gottfried Benn. A star on the Walk of Fame of Cabaret in Mainz is dedicated to him.
Klabund completed 25 plays and 14 novels...several of which were published only after his death...numerous short stories, many adaptations, and also several works on the history of literature. Between 1998 and 2003 a collection of his works appeared in 8 volumes.
