Martin Walser - WikiHQ

Martin Johannes Walser (; 24 March 1927 – 26 July 2023) was a German writer, known especially as a novelist. He began his career as journalist for Süddeutscher Rundfunk, where he wrote and directed audio plays. He was a member of Group 47 from 1953 on.

His first novel, Marriage in Philippsburg, a satirical portrait of postwar society, became a success in 1957. Walser then turned to freelance writing. He published a trilogy of novels about the character Anselm Kristlein, beginning with Halbzeit in 1960, Das Einhorn (The Unicorn) in 1966 and ending with Der Sturz (The Fall) in 1973. Most of his major works have been translated into English, including the 1978 novella Runaway Horse, which was successful with both readers and critics. He also wrote plays (Die Zimmerschlacht), screenplays, story collections and essays. Several of his books have been adapted to the screen, including Runaway Horse in 1986 and again in 2007.

Walser received many awards, including the Georg Büchner Prize in 1981 and the Peace Prize of the German Publishers' Association in 1998. His acceptance speech for the Peace Prize caused controversy with Walser's remarks on German commemoration of the Holocaust. The "monumentalization of shame", he said, risks turning remembrance of the Holocaust into a "lip service" ritual. In 2002, Walser's portrayal of the literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki in his novel ' ("Death of a Critic") was regarded as anti-Semitic.

Walser is regarded, along with Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, and Siegfried Lenz, as one of Germany's most influential postwar authors.

Early life and education

Walser was born on 24 March 1927 in Wasserburg, on Lake Constance. His parents were coal merchants who also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. The second of three children, Walser lost his father at age ten. According to documents released in June 2007, he became a member of the Nazi Party on 20 April 1944 at age 17. Walser denied that he knowingly entered the party, and assumed that he was enrolled by a garrison commander as part of a larger group without his knowledge.

Beginning in 1953, Walser was regularly invited to conferences of the Group 47, which was focused on literature for a new democratic Germany. which enabled Walser to work as a freelance author and reside in Friedrichshafen.

In 2004 Walser left his long-time publisher Suhrkamp Verlag for Rowohlt Verlag after the death of the Suhrkamp director .

Walser was a member of the in Berlin, the , the in Darmstadt, and the German P.E.N.

In 2007 the German political magazine placed Walser second on its list of the 500 most important German intellectuals, behind Pope Benedict XVI and ahead of Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass.

Work

Walser's subjects were often broken heroes who found it difficult to live up to the requirements of society or their own expectations. Walser said: "I think that world literature is about losers. That's just the way it is. From Antigone to Josef K. — there are no winners, no champions. And furthermore, anyone can confirm that in their circle of acquaintances: People are always more interesting when they are losing than when they are winning." Some of them feature in a permanent exhibition at the Literaturmuseum der Moderne in Marbach, including  Ein springender Brunnen.

Death of a Critic

In his 2002 roman-à-clef Death of a Critic, Walser, who disliked literary critics in general, denounced one of the most prominent in Germany, of the (FAZ). After the scandal, Walser was not welcome in the U.S. for a long time.

Personal life

In 1950, Walser married Katharina ("Käthe") Neuner-Jehle. The couple had four daughters:

Walser died in Nussdorf on 26 July 2023, at age 96.

Awards

Walser was awarded the Hermann Hesse Prize in 1957 for his first novel. the Ricarda Huch Prize of Darmstadt in 1990, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1998, and the Friedrich Nietzsche Prize in 2015 for his life's achievements, among many other awards.

At first the speech caused no great stir; the audience received the speech with applause, though Ignatz Bubis, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, did not applaud, as confirmed by television footage of the event. Some days after the event, and again on 9November, the 60th anniversary of the pogrom against German Jews, Bubis accused Walser of "intellectual arson" () Then the controversy started. As described by Karsten Luttmer: Walser replied by accusing Bubis to have stepped out of dialogue between people. Walser and Bubis met on 12 December Beginning in 2004, Walser's works were published by Rowohlt, Reinbek. His works include:

Beschreibung einer Form: Versuch über die epische Dichtung Franz Kafkas, dissertation (1951)
', story collection (1955),
Ehen in Philippsburg, novel (1957) – The Gadarene Club (1960) / Marriage in Philippsburg (1961)
Halbzeit, novel (1960) , first part of the Anselm Kristlein trilogy
', novel (1979) – The Inner Man (1984)
', novel (1980) – The Swan Villa (1983)
Selbstbewußtsein und Ironie, Frankfurt lectures (1981)
', novel (1982) – Letter to Lord Liszt (1985)
In Goethes Hand: Szenen aus dem 19. Jahrhundert (1982)
Liebeserklärungen (1983)
Brandung, novel (1985) – Breakers: A Novel (1987)
Meßmers Gedanken (1985)
Geständnis auf Raten (1986)
Die Amerikareise: Versuch, ein Gefühl zu verstehen (with , Kunstverlag Weingarten, 1986)
Dorle und Wolf, novella (1987) – No Man's Land (1988)
', novel (1988)
Über Deutschland reden (1988)
', novel (1991)
Das Sofa (written 1961, published 1992)
', novel (1993)
Vormittag eines Schriftstellers (1994)
Kaschmir in Parching: Szenen aus der Gegenwart (1995)
', novel (1996)
Deutsche Sorgen (1997)
Heimatlob: Ein Bodensee-Buch, illustrated book about Lake Constance (with Ficus, Insel Verlag, 1998)
Ein springender Brunnen, novel (1998) – A Gushing Fountain (2015) – A Man in Love
Leben und Schreiben. Tagebücher 1963–1973, diaries (2008) .
Mein Jenseits, novella (Berlin University Press, 2010) .
Leben und Schreiben. Tagebücher 1974–1978, diaries (2010)
Muttersohn novel (2011)
Meine Lebensreisen (Corso, Hamburg, 2012)
Über Rechtfertigung, eine Versuchung: Zeugen und Zeugnisse (2012)
Das dreizehnte Kapitel (2012)
Meßmers Momente (2013)
Die Inszenierung (2013)
Shmekendike blumen. Ein Denkmal / A dermonung für Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh. (2014)
Schreiben und Leben. Tagebücher 1979–1981, diaries (2014)
Ein sterbender Mann (2016)
Statt etwas, oder Der letzte Rank (2017)
Ewig aktuell : aus gegebenem Anlass. (2017)
with Jakob Augstein: Das Leben wortwörtlich. Ein Gespräch., conversation (2017)
Gar alles oder Briefe an eine unbekannte Geliebte. (2018)
Spätdienst. Bekenntnis und Stimmung, with illustrations by Alissa Walser (2018)
Mädchenleben oder Die Heiligsprechung. Legende. (2019)
Sprachlaub oder: Wahr ist, was schön ist (2021)
Das Traumbuch. Postkarten aus dem Schlaf, with Cornelia Schleime (2022)

Film scripts

Chiarevalle wird entdeckt, directed by Hannes Tannert (1963, TV film)
Das Unheil (Havoc), directed by Peter Fleischmann (1972)
Weak Spot, directed by Peter Fleischmann (1975)
Tatort: , 1989 episode directed by
Eiche und Angora, directed by (1964, TV film, based on the play of the same name)
Eiche und Angora, directed by (East Germany, 1965, TV film, based on the play of the same name)
Die Zimmerschlacht, directed by Franz Peter Wirth (1969, TV film, based on the play of the same name)
', directed by Alf Brustellin (1979, based on the novel of the same name)
', directed by Peter Beauvais (1986, TV film, based on the novella of the same name)
Alles aus Liebe: Säntis, directed by (1986, TV series episode, based on the story Säntis)
Ohne einander, directed by (2007, TV film, based on the novel of the same name)
', directed by Rainer Kaufmann (2007, based on the novella of the same name)

Notes

References

External links

Audio clip from the novel "Ein liebender Mann" (2008), read out on Literaturport.de by Martin Walser himself (in German)
Audio clip from the novel "Angstblüte" (2006) on Literaturport.de (in German)