Mariana Frenk-Westheim

Who was Mariana Frenk-Westheim?

Mariana Frenk-Westheim was a writer of Spanish-Mexican prose, hispanist, lecturer of literature, museum expert and one of the most important Mexican translators.

Mariana Frenk-Westheim, a daughter of Jewish parents, was born in Hamburg and left Germany in 1930 together with her husband Ernst Frenk and two children and moved overseas to Mexico. After her husband's death she married Paul Westheim, an art historian.

Her most renowned translations are those of the Mexican author, Juan Rulfo. In 2002 she published her poems in a volume "Tausend Reime für Große und Kleime. Die Tier- und Dingwelt alphabetisch vorgestellt". During her final years Frenk-Westheim became blind and was dependent on a wheelchair. She died in Mexico City, 106 years of age.