Norbert Jacques
1880–1954
Biography
Norbert Jacques (1880–1954) was a Luxembourgish writer who worked in German. He was born in Eich, in Luxembourg, and built a varied career as a novelist, journalist, screenwriter and translator. He became a German citizen in 1922, and he died in Koblenz, in what was then West Germany. Most of his public life was spent in Germany, where his books found a large readership.
He is remembered above all for Dr. Mabuse, a criminal mastermind who works through disguise, hypnosis and gambling. The character first appeared in Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler), a novel that was one of the bestsellers of its day and sold more than half a million copies in Germany. The film director Fritz Lang later took up the figure, and his 1922 film made Mabuse one of the best-known villains of early German cinema. The figure went on to appear in many later films.
On this site the novel is listed under its full title, Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler: Roman. It is a crime novel of the Weimar years, and it shows the qualities that made Jacques popular: a fast-moving plot, a sinister central figure and a city that hides criminal life behind respectable surfaces. Anyone who knows the Mabuse films will find the source of the character here.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler: Roman
by Norbert Jacques
In the restless Berlin of the early 1920s, rich young men are losing fortunes at cards to a stranger who seems to bend their will. A state prosecutor sets out to unmask the master of disguise behind the ruined lives and the spreading crimes. A fast, dark thriller whose villain…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.