Joseph Wechsberg
Joseph Wechsberg (29 August 1907 – 10 April 1983) was a Jewish Czech writer, journalist, musician, and gourmet. Born in Ostrava, in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, he and his wife requested and received asylum in the United States in 1939 when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. His mother was among the Czech Jews interned by the Nazis and later died at Auschwitz.[1] Over his career he was a prolific writer who wrote over two dozen works of nonfiction, including books on music and musicians, and contributed numerous articles to publications such as The New Yorker.[2]
![](../I/Meran_J%C3%BCdischer_Friedhof_Grab_Joseph_Wechsberg.jpg.webp)
Bibliography
Books
- Homecoming. New York: Knopf. 1946.
- Wechsberg, Joseph: Looking for a Bluebird, Penguin, 1948
- Wechsberg, Joseph: Blue Trout & Black Truffles (the peregrinations of an Epicure), Alfred A.Knopf, 1954
- Wechsberg, Joseph: Red Plush and Black Velvet: the Story of Dame Nellie Melba and her Times, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1962.
- Wechsberg, Joseph: The Merchant Bankers, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1966.
- Wechsberg, Joseph: The Murderers Among Us. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967. LCN 67-13204.
- Wechsberg, Joseph: The Voices. 1969 account written in Vienna of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
- Wechsberg, Joseph: The Glory of the Violin, Viking Adult, 1973, ISBN 978-0670342662
- Wechsberg, Joseph: The Lost World of the Great Spas, New York: Harper & Row, 1979 ISBN 0060145846
- Wechsberg, Joseph: ‘’Trifles Make Perfection: Selected Essays of Joseph Wechsberg’’, Boston: David R. Godine, 1999 ISBN 1-56792-092-6 LCN 98-29258
Short fiction
- Stories
Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
The magic carpet | 1950 | Wechsberg, Joseph (January 7, 1950). "The magic carpet". The New Yorker. 25 (46): 23–26. |
In popular culture
Wechsberg's book Blue Trout & Black Truffles was gifted by Nick Kokonas to Grant Achatz while Nick was trying to convince Grant to form a restaurant partnership with him. The result was Alinea, the only Chicago restaurant to retain a three-star status, Michelin’s highest accolade.