Max Nordau
Max S. Nordau | |
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Nordau, c. 1906 | |
| Born | Simon Maximilian (Simcha) Südfeld 29 July 1849 |
| Died | 23 January 1923 (aged 73) Paris, France |
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| Known for | Co-founder of World Zionist Organization |
| Notable work | Degeneration (1892) |
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Max Simon Nordau (born Simon Maximilian Südfeld; 29 July 1849 – 23 January 1923) was a Hungarian Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theodor Herzl, and president or vice-president of several Zionist congresses.
In his younger years he was known as a social critic, writing The Conventional Lies of Our Civilisation (1883), Degeneration (1892), and Paradoxes (1896). By 1913, Nordau was established as the earliest major critic of modernism. Although not his most popular or successful work while alive, Degeneration is the book most often remembered and cited today.