Walt Disney's interpretation of Salten's 'Bambi'

Felix Salten (1869 – 1945)

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.