This year marks the 80 since the ending of World War II and the liberation of Europe’s concentration camps. And 80 years since the little known Austro-Hungarian writer and critic Felix Salten died. Salten, born Siegmund Salzmann in Pest, Hungary, was the author of “Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest,” a tale first published in German in 1923, from which one of the most remarkable cinematic events of all time was made by Walt Disney in 1942. The beloved movie that has engaged youngsters and adults for decades, however, is far from the unsentimental allegory intended by its Jewish author, a prominent and controversial member of Vienna’s intellectual café society, who clearly saw what was happening in Nazi ascendant Germany.
Join book critic Joan Baum on Friday, March 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the East Hampton Library (or on Zoom) for a talk on the book (and movie). The event is free, but reservations are required to Steven Dino Spataro at steven@easthamptonlibrary.org or call 631-324-0222, ext. 3. The Zoom link will be sent shortly before the talk.
The East Hampton Library is at 158 Main Street in East Hampton.
Staff Writer on Mar 12, 2025