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Born in Budapest Salten's family moved to Vienna shortly after
his birth. Financial circumstances did not allow for his finishing
primary education. Nonetheless, Salten was an accepted friend
of Arthur Schnitzler,
with whom he shared an ardent interest in psychoanalysis and
a worthy contrahent of notorious critic Karl Kraus. He worked
for an insurance company, as a journalist and critic and published
short stories under various pseudonyms as was the habit in
those times.
He is remembered for two publications which have little in
common: Felix Salten was the one to cook up the heart-breaking
story of a cute fawn named 'Bambi'. Does that ring
a bell? You have probably seen Walt Disney's interpretation
of the story, an all time classic of animated film.
His other major novel is called 'Josephine Mutzenbacher',
the Viennese version of 'Fanny Hill' memoirs. It was published
anonymously and was immediately banned by the authorities
as being pornographic. Until the late 1960s the book was distributed
by dedicated fans... often copied by type writer. The last
20 years have seen the novel rise to the status of a bestseller.
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