German literature has given the world many wonderful writers. The names of many of them remained in the history of literature. The works of these authors are studied at school and at universities. It's famous German writers, whose names everyone knows, even if they are not familiar with their works. However, most of the titles of their works are also well known to readers.
German writers and poets of the 18th century
Goethe is one of the most famous writers in the whole world. His full name sounds like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He was not only a poet, but also a naturalist, a great thinker and statesman. He was born in 1749 and lived for 82 years. Goethe wrote poems and comedies. He is known to the whole world as the author of the book "Suffering young Werther". The story of how this work greatly influenced the minds of young people - Goethe's contemporaries is widely known. And a wave of suicides swept across Germany. Young men imitated the protagonist of the work - Werther - and committed suicide because of unhappy love. In the pockets of many of the young suicides, a volume of The Sorrows of Young Werther was found.
Wilhelm Heinze is a no less talented writer, however, for the most part, he is familiar only to literary critics and philologists. In Russia, he is known for the novel "Ardingello and the Blessed Isles" translated by Petrovsky. Born in 1746, died in 1803. And only in 1838 was Heinze's collected works published.
Children's German writers of the 18th century
Everyone read or listened to the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm as children. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are German writers known to everyone since childhood. In addition to writing fairy tales, they were also linguists and researchers of their own national culture. In addition, the brothers are considered the founders of scientific Germanic studies and Germanic philology. They were born with a difference of one year: Jacob - in 1785, and Wilhelm - in 1786. Jacob outlived his brother by four years. The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are loved by children of all nations. Many, as they say, grew up on their " Bremen town musicians”, “Snow White” and “Little Red Riding Hood”.
19th century writers
Nietzsche is one of the first whose name comes to mind when German writers of the 19th century are remembered. Few read his works, but many have heard of him and his philosophy. The full name of the author is Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. He was born in 1844 and lived for 56 years. He was not only a writer, but also a philosopher, as well as a philologist. Unfortunately, his creative activity ended in 1889 due to illness, and he gained popularity as a writer only after his death. Key piece Nietzsche's work is the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Theodore Storm is another 19th century writer. This is both a poet and a prose writer. Storm was born in 1817 and lived for 70 years. Most famous works Storm - these are the short stories "Angelica" and "The Rider on the White Horse".
20th century in German literature
Heinrich Böll is a laureate Nobel Prize for 1972. He was born in 1917 and has been writing stories and poems since early childhood. However, he began to print his works only in 1947. In Bell's adult prose, there is a lot about the war and post-war issues. Since he himself survived the war and was even a prisoner. More famous are Bell's collections of short stories Not Just for Christmas, When the War Started and When the War Ended, as well as the novel Where Have You Been, Adam? In 1992, Bell's novel "The Angel Was Silent" was published, it was translated into Russian in 2001. Previously, the author himself dismantled it into a series of stories for the sake of a fee, since he and his family needed money.
Remarque is also one of the most famous writers. Erich Maria Remarque took a middle name for a pseudonym in honor of his mother. He was born in 1898, in 1916 he was sent to fight on the Western Front, was seriously wounded, spent a lot of time in the hospital. All his main novels are anti-war, for this reason the Nazis even banned his books. Most famous novels: “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Three Comrades”, “Life on Loan”, “ Triumphal Arch' and 'Love your neighbor'.
Franz Kafka is an Austrian but is considered one of the main German-language authors. His books are unique in their absurdism. Most of them were published posthumously. He was born in 1883 and died of tuberculosis in 1924. His collections are famous: "Punishment", "Contemplation" and "Hunger". As well as the novels The Castle and The Trial.
AT world literature made a great contribution by German writers. The list of names can be continued for a long time. There are two more names to add.
Mann Brothers
Heinrich Mann and Thomas Mann are brothers, both famous German writers. Heinrich Mann - prose writer, born in 1871, worked in the book trade and publishing house. In 1953, the Berlin Academy of Arts established the annual Heinrich Mann Prize. His most famous works: "Teacher Gnus", "Promised Land", "The Young Years of King Henry IV" and " mature years King Henry IV."
Paul Thomas Mann was 4 years younger than his brother. Is Nobel Laureate. Literary activity It began with the creation of the Spring Thunder magazine. Then he wrote articles for the magazine "XX Century", which was published by his brother. Fame came to Thomas with the novel "Buddenbrooks". He wrote it based on history own family. His other famous novels are Doctor Faustus and The Magic Mountain.
Attention, only TODAY!
Herta Müller (Herta Muller) - the author of novels and other works, as well as a representative of the social movement German descent, who was born in 1953 in the family of "Banat Swabians" - a German-speaking minority in Romania. She completed her studies at the university in Timisoara (Romania), after which she worked in production as a translator, however, refusing to cooperate with the police, she soon became unemployed.
In 1982 Muller published her debut book, Lowlands» on your mother tongue in Romania. The work was subjected to strict censorship and was literally redrawn up and down. In 1984, the book was published in full version on the territory of Germany. The book "Lowlands" subsequently received a number of prestigious literary awards.
Muller He is the author of not only major novels, but also poems and essays. She is also known as a photographer and artist. The main emphasis in her works, Herta Müller always did on her own experience restrictions on freedom, violence, displacement important events from memory. She also writes about the unwillingness of people to know about important, but difficult moments in life.
Müller is a member of the German Academy of Language and Poetry. The works of the writer are translated into a series European languages, as well as the languages of Japan and China. In 2008, a collection of works by Herta Müller with the title "The King Bows and Kills" was included by the Swedish Writers' Union in the top ten most good books modernity, written by the fair sex. A year later, Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature with the rationale: "With concentration in poetry and sincerity in prose, he describes the life of the underprivileged."
Annette Pent works in the genre of deep lyrical prose. According to many, it does not leave anyone indifferent. The writer was born in Cologne in 1967. In 2001, her first novel was published, titled "Ich muß los" ("I have to go"). He brought the writer Mare Cassens Award.
A year later, Pent won the Jury Prize literary competition in Klagenfurt. At the competition, she presented an excerpt from the novel "Island 34"
. In 2008, the writer was awarded prize to them. Thaddeus Troll. Now one of the most novels read the author is “You can get used to each other without words, it doesn’t take long at all.”
Arnold Stadler - writer, translator of German origin, also known for his essays. During the period of his work, the writer was awarded a number of prestigious awards, among which Prize of Georg Büchner, Hermann Hesse and Kleist. Stadler's work has been repeatedly noted by the most famous German critics and intellectuals, his talent was noted, among other things, by Martin Walser.
Stadler is one of the most successful and famous writers present century. He is the author of such famous novels how “Once upon a time I was”, “Death and I, we two”
and others. His romance "One day, and maybe one night"
rightfully recognized as one of the most beautiful, sad and sublime works in the world. The work tells the story of a photographer who made attempts to stop the moment and how he himself lost himself in these attempts.
Daniel Kelman is one of the most famous German and Austrian writers of the so-called " new wave". The writer's prose is built on subtle irony, in which he comprehends new horizons of literature, beats all the clichés existing in literature. In his writings, Kelman played"simultaneously with a rich plot and discussions about deep philosophical problems. The formation of the writer was influenced by Latin American works with a share of "magical realism" and the fantasy of Prague writers such as Kubin and Perutz.
Kelman's first novel was published in 1997, when he was still studying at the University of Vienna. At the same time, Kelman began to cooperate with large German funds. mass media such as Frankfurter Rundschau and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Now Kelman is a member of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature and the German Academy of Language and Literature. Also, the writer teaches students of German universities poetics. He is the recipient of a number of prestigious literary awards: Candide”, prizes of the society of Konrad Adenauer, Kleist, Haimito Doderer and many others.
- another representative of the German modern literature, began his journey while still in practice at the university, where he studied as a lawyer. In 1983 he released his first novel "Bed" in which he describes the life of a child Jewish origin who had to escape from Frankfurt. The novel was warmly received by critics, who noted the original, but at the same time strict and elegant style of narration.
Mosebach writes his works in almost any genre. In his "arsenal" and novels, and poems, and scripts, and articles about art. The general public fell in love with the author at the turn of the century, when he released novel " long night»
. Mosebach writes all his novels while in "exile" - he does not have any contact with the outside world for several months.
In 2007 Mosebach was awarded Georg Buechner Prize, a novel "The Moon and the Girl" nominated for the German Book Prize.
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GREAT GERMAN WRITERS AND POETS
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine(German Christian Johann Heinrich Heine, pronounced Christian Johan Heinrich Heine; December 13, 1797, Düsseldorf - February 17, 1856, Paris) - German poet, publicist and critic. Heine is considered last poet « romantic era” and at the same time its head. He did colloquial capable of lyrics, picked up a feuilleton and travel notes before art form and gave a previously unfamiliar elegant lightness to the German language. Composers Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Johann Brahms, P. I. Tchaikovsky and many others wrote songs on his poems.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(German Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German pronunciation of the name (inf.); August 28, 1749, Frankfurt am Main - March 22, 1832, Weimar) - German poet, statesman, thinker and naturalist.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller(German Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller; November 10, 1759, Marbach an der Neckar - May 9, 1805, Weimar) - German poet, philosopher, art theorist and playwright, professor of history and military doctor, representative of Sturm und Drang and Romanticism in literature, the author of "Ode to Joy", a modified version of which became the text of the anthem of the European Union. Entered the history of world literature as a fiery defender human personality. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788-1805) he was friends with Johann Goethe, whom he inspired to complete his works, which remained in draft version. This period of friendship between the two poets and their literary controversy entered German literature under the name "Weimar classicism".
Brothers Grimm (German: Brüder Grimm or Die Gebrüder Grimm; Jacob, January 4, 1785 - September 20, 1863 and Wilhelm, February 24, 1786 - December 16, 1859) - German linguists and researchers of German folk culture. Collected folklore and published several collections under the name "Tales of the Brothers Grimm", which became very popular. Together with Karl Lachmann and Georg Friedrich Beneke, they are considered the founding fathers of Germanic philology and Germanistics. At the end of their lives, they set about creating the first dictionary German language: Wilhelm died in December 1859, having completed work on the letter D; Jakob outlived his brother by nearly four years, completing the letters A, B, C, and E. He died at his desk while working on the German word. Frucht (fruit). The brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm were born in the city of Hanau. For a long time lived in the city of Kassel.
Wilhelm Hauff (German Wilhelm Hauff, November 29, 1802, Stuttgart - November 18, 1827, ibid.) - German writer and short story writer, representative of the Biedermeier direction in literature.
Paul Thomas Mann(German: Paul Thomas Mann, June 6, 1875, Lübeck - August 12, 1955, Zurich) - German writer, essayist, master of the epic novel, Nobel Prize in Literature (1929), brother of Heinrich Mann, father of Klaus Mann, Golo Mann and Erica Mann.
Erich Maria Remarque(German Erich Maria Remarque, born Erich Paul Remarque, Erich Paul Remark; June 22, 1898, Osnabrück - September 25, 1970, Locarno) - a prominent German writer of the XX century, representative lost generation. His novel "On Western front Without Change" is one of the big three "Lost Generation" novels published in 1929, along with "Farewell to Arms!" Ernest Hemingway and "Death of a Hero" by Richard Aldington.
Heinrich Mann (German Heinrich Mann, March 27, 1871, Lübeck, Germany - March 11, 1950, Santa Monica, USA) - German prose writer and public figure, older brother of Thomas Mann.
Bertolt Brecht (German: Bertolt Brecht; full name- Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht, Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (inf.); February 10, 1898, Augsburg - August 14, 1956, Berlin) - German playwright, poet, prose writer, theatrical figure, art theorist, founder of the Berliner Ensemble Theater. The work of Brecht - a poet and playwright - has always been controversial, like his theory " epic theater", and his Political Views. Nevertheless, already in the 50s, Brecht's plays firmly entered the European theatrical repertoire; his ideas in one form or another were adopted by many contemporary playwrights, including Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Arthur Adamov, Max Frisch, Heiner Müller.
Heinrich von Kleist(German Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist; October 18, 1777, Frankfurt an der Oder - November 21, 1811, Wannsee, near Potsdam) - German playwright, poet and prose writer. One of the founders of the genre of the story ("Marquise d" O "1808," Earthquake in Chile "," Betrothal to San Domingo "). In 1912, in the year of the centenary of the death of the writer, the prestigious German literary prize Heinrich Kleist.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing(German Gotthold Ephraim Lessing; January 22, 1729, Kamenz, Saxony - February 15, 1781, Braunschweig) - German poet, playwright, art theorist and literary critic-educator. Founder of German classical literature.
Lyon Feuchtwanger(German Lion Feuchtwanger, July 7, 1884, Munich - December 21, 1958, Los Angeles) - German writer of Jewish origin. One of the most widely read German-speaking authors in the world. Worked in the genre of historical novel.
Stefan Zweig (German Stefan Zweig - Stefan Zweig; November 28, 1881 - February 23, 1942) - Austrian critic, author of many short stories and fictionalized biographies. Was friendly with famous people like Emile Verhaarn, Romain Rolland, Frans Maserel, Auguste Rodin, Thomas Mann, Sigmund Freud, James Joyce, Hermann Hesse, H. G. Wells, Paul Valery, Maxim Gorky, Richard Strauss, Bertolt Brecht.
Reader Y. Rumyantsev, N. Trifilov, M. Terekhova
German poetry of the first half of the 20th century
Side 1
R. DEMEL
Summer evening.
Translation by G. Zabezhinsky
S. GEORGE
We are slowly walking to the gate ...
Translation by G. Zabezhinsky
Early evening scares the roads.
Translation by V. Elsner
Twilight of appeasement
Dante and the Poem of Modernity
Translation by A. Steinberg
G. HESSE
Ravenna
Translation by V. Elsner
Read by Y. Rumyantsev
sadness
Translation by N. Maltseva
B. BRECHT Burning of books»
TranslationB. Slutsky
G. HAUPTMAN
Tercynes.
Translation by V. Levik
Read by V. Trifilov
G. De Fort
The voice of the tempter
Translation by S. Averntsev
G. CAROSSA
Captives and the old man.
Translation by A. Shteyberg
M. Terekhova sneezes
A. GAUSHOFER
When the despot Shi Huang-di sensed.
Translation in. Levika
R. Schneider
Death stood before me...
Translation by S, Averntsev
The seal of mercy and sin...
R translation; Dubrovkin
N. Trifilov reads
There are still a lot of white spots on the Russian map of European poetry. Historical events XX century did not contribute to the close and constant communication of cultures European nations. Of the German-speaking poets of the first half of the 20th century, only Brecht and Rilke were relatively seriously studied in our country. Meanwhile, German-language poetry of the first quarter of the 20th century experienced an extraordinary flowering, along with the entire European culture of that period. It took place against the backdrop of an unprecedented development of all spheres of humanitarian thought, philosophy, sociology, cultural studies - against the backdrop of a lively interest in all types of arts. During these decades, German world created the works of M. Heidegger, 3. Freud. K. Jaspers. L. Wittgenstein, Max Weber,T. Mann. R. Walser. R. Musil. F. Kafka, G. Hauptman, G. Gesse, R. M. Rilke and others.
Like most European literatures, German poetry at the beginning of the 20th century abandoned the poetic aesthetics of the 19th century. It also breaks down poetic forms, the style of the very language of poetry. With a speed unknown to previous eras, modernity, expressionism, propaganda poetry of the 20s replace each other, natural school("naturgedicht"), surrealism, until finally the coming to power of the Nazis imposed on German art the aesthetics of sugary optimism and primitive mysticism. Real writers were divided into external and internal emigrants. Them common goal there was a confrontation totalitarian regime who arrogated to himself the right to speak about the name of the entire nation, who built his power on nationalist demagogy.
None of the poetic trends of the 20th century passed by German poetry. Pravda, some trends, such as surrealism, did not become dominant in it, as happened in many other countries. There was no symbolism in Germany as a separate direction. There were poets on whom symbolism had a decisive influence, becoming only one of the components of their figurative language. A truly German trend was expressionism, which dominated literature for almost two decades. His influence will be felt in all spheres of German art of the subsequent time.
The disc begins with the poems of R. Demel (1863 - 1920), whose lyrical work stands at the origins of the 20th century. The poet who proclaimed the freedom of the individual, who believed in the flourishing of civilization and in the coming flourishing human soul, was in his poems the spokesman for the universal hopes of Europe, her faith "in reasonableness human feeling". The poetry of S. George (1868 - 1933) is the highest achievement of the symbolic trend in Germany. There is no doubt that Gheorghe's language was influenced by the French, but Gheorghe is stricter. Stylized, having absorbed the traditions of the German classics, his poetry tossed between the doctrine of "beautiful existence", i.e., propaganda of aesthetic isolation, and the need for renewal folk life. In his best poetry, George goes beyond his own aesthetic program. His poetry is full of insights, penetration into the mysterious depths of the soul.
At the end of the first decade in artistic environment Germany is beginning to mature expressionism - a direction that will be destined to become the mainstream for almost two decades. One of its first heralds was the poet Georg Geim (1887 - 1912), who tragically died in an accident, who brilliantly predicted the coming abominations of the century. Broke in the last year of his work with the traditional style and content. Game defined the face of Expressionism. Image of mortuaries in moonlight, landscapes of death, faceless and sick nocturnal vagabonds, ghosts of an impending catastrophe, acting under the rule of demonic forces: Game predetermined the spirit of expressionist poetry, regardless of whether it turned to socially critical topics (V. Hasenclever, 1890 - 1940), to the grotesque of decay , symbolizing the doom of urban civilization (A. Liechtenstein, 1889 - 1914), whether it was directed against the aestheticism of George and representatives of neo-romantic poetry, promoting the beauty of the ugly (J. van Godzis, 1887 -1942), or was it an expression of the global sorrow of the new a time filled with inner unrest, gloomy forebodings and deep sadness (E. Lasker-Schüler, 1869 -1945).
But the history of German poetry of the 20th century is not limited only to the history of trends: So. G. Boni (1886 - 1956), already in the expressionist period, abandoned the characteristic pathos of representatives of this trend and began to create his own aesthetics. Called by him "creative nihilism," she viewed the world of the artist as a world independent of historical process, which does not fit into the framework of any direction. This also applies to G. Hesse (1877 - 1962), whose traditional lyrics were created, as it were, outside contemporary influences, absorbing features and German romanticism, and classics. Nevertheless, Hesse is the son of his age. Remaining formally traditional, he expressed in his poetry many passions and spiritual quests of his time. Having lived great life, outposts and the era of modernity, and expressionism of surrealism. Hesse remained true to himself, developing traditional meditative lyrics, concerned about the future of mankind, expressing for decades stubborn confidence in the realization of the dream of mankind about the earth as a world of brotherhood and spiritual perfection.B. von Munchausen (1874-1945) and R. Borchart (1877-1945) belonged to the conservative wing of the newest German literature. Trying (especially Borhart) at the expense of archaic forms enrich modern language, to create a new "synthetic - archaic". Their merit, no doubt, is in preserving deep traditions, in enriching them literary language contemporaries, in a reminder of the inexhaustibility of traditional forms, of their inexhaustible possibilities.
The poems of G. Colmar (1894-1943), who died in a concentration camp, are full of impressions from the natural world, an unquenched thirst for love and motherhood, which are in constant conflict with creative destiny poet.
The Alsatian I. Goll, one of the few representatives of German surrealism, appears as a very special figure. Having enriched German expressionist verse with French influences, skillfully combining the concrete with the abstract, combining the incompatible, Gaull achieves the deepest symbolic sound in his poems, expanding the figurative possibilities of German verse.
Many of the poems presented on the disc can be classified as socio-critical poetry. Taking its roots in the Middle Ages, giving prominent representatives in the XVIII and XIX centuries, German poetry of a social orientation proved to be especially necessary in our tragic age. Its most prominent representatives are B. Brecht (1898-1956) and J.R. Becher (1891-1968). The paths of these poets are different, their poetic manners are different, but they are united by the pain that sounds from verse to verse for the fate of their homeland, the desire to contribute to its salvation and revival with the help of creativity.
The disc ends with poems by three poets, whose fate, as it were, symbolizes the fate of Germany in the first half of the 20th century, symbolizes the end of a huge period of German humanistic culture, its tragedy, its collapse and ability to revive, - A. Gaushofer (1903 - 1945), R. Schneider (1903 - 1958) and
G. Carossy (1878-1956). Despite their difference creative ways, the legacy of these three poets has become a monument of spiritual resistance recent years existence Hitler's Reich. "Moabite Sonnets" by A. Gaushofer, a participant in the anti-Hitler conspiracy on July 20, 1944, who was shot by the Nazis shortly before arriving in Berlin Soviet army written in late 1944 or early 1945. Sonnets by R. Schneider, religious philosopher writer, were secretly distributed in the Reich in handwritten lists, even finding their way to concentration camps, for which R. Schneider was charged at the end of the war with "preparations for high treason." Many poems by the poet of internal emigration G. Karossa, who lived aloof from all political events, were published only after the war. These are uncompromising lines about the native people, about their fate, full of faith in their future.
From the vast heritage of the latest German poetry, Russian poets have so far translated little. And what has been translated is, for the most part, in tune with the Russian tradition, Russian ideas about poetry. However, when compiling this disc, we tried to select the best of what was done by Russian translators, to give an idea of the various poetic trends and genres of German poetry, and at least in part about the poetic image of Germany in the first half of the 20th century. It turned out that this image and the process of work develops by itself, because the little that. was translated, was mainly associated with the tragic events in the history of this country.
The journey to poetic Germany of the first half of the 20th century is just beginning. Let this sound publication be the first ship in the ocean, capable of giving many poetic discoveries. We wish him a happy voyage.
W. Weber
