Austrian Professor to Lecture on Escaped Monk Who Became 'Greatest American Author'

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Wynfrid Kriegleder of the University of Vienna, Austria, will present the lecture: "Charles Sealsfield: How a Monk from Prague Became the Greatest American Author" on Monday, March 12, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Kimpel 203.

Charles Sealsfield was an incredible character who simply disappeared from his monastary in 1823 without a trace; the Bohemian and Austrian authorities searched in vain for him, and he was not heard of in the area for 40 years. He spent that time in America, living in Pennsylvania and Louisiana as an anti-Catholic clergyman first under the name of Charles Sidons and then Charles Sealsfield.

In his books, he wrote in German about the American South and West and in English about the evils of the Austrian Metternich regime, and it appears that he at some point tried to become a spy. He eventually returned to Europe and is buried there as a "citizen of North America." The event is free and open to the public.