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Martin Walser

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Martin Johannes Walser ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 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 Template:Ill ("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.<ref name="Illmer" /><ref name="Monde">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and educationEdit

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.<ref name="Illmer">Template:Cite news</ref> The second of three children, Walser lost his father at age ten.<ref name="LEMO" /> He described the environment in which he grew up in his novel A Gushing Fountain.<ref name="Platthaus" /> From 1938 to 1943 he attended the secondary school in Lindau, until his induction to the armed forces, initially as an Template:Awrap auxiliary.<ref name="Platthaus" /><ref name="Arens">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to documents released in June 2007, he became a member of the Nazi Party on 20 April 1944 at age 17.<ref name="Welt">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="Welt" /> The claim was disputed by Hans-Dieter Kreikamp from the German Federal Archives, who said that a personal signature was formally required, even in times of war.<ref name="Welt" /> By the end of the Second World War, Walser was a soldier in the Wehrmacht.<ref name="Illmer" />

After the war, he completed his {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Lindau in 1946.<ref name="LEMO" /> He then studied literature, history, and philosophy at the University of Regensburg and the University of Tübingen, achieving his doctorate in literature in 1951 with a thesis on Franz Kafka.<ref name="Illmer" />

CareerEdit

While studying, Walser worked as a reporter for the Süddeutscher Rundfunk broadcasting company, and wrote and directed his first audio plays.<ref name="Illmer" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Kieselbach" /> He travelled to Czechoslovakia, England, France, Italy, and Poland as part of his job.<ref name="LEMO" /> In 1950 Walser married Katharina "Käthe" Neuner-Jehle; the couple had four daughters.<ref name="LEMO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Beginning in 1953, Walser was regularly invited to conferences of the Group 47, which was focused on literature for a new democratic Germany.<ref name="Kieselbach" /> The group awarded him a prize for his story Templones Ende in 1955.<ref name="LEMO" /> His first novel, Marriage in Philippsburg, was published in 1957. Like his later books, it was set in Southern Germany in a postwar society, and satirically portrayed the "conservative middle class" during the "so-called economic miracle".<ref name="Illmer" /> The novel first appeared in English three years later as The Gadarene Club.<ref name="Illmer" />

File:Martin Walser, Ein fliehendes Pferd 1978.jpg
Title page of Ein fliehendes Pferd

The book became a huge success,<ref name="Agazzi">Template:Cite book</ref> which enabled Walser to work as a freelance author and reside in Friedrichshafen.<ref name="LEMO" /> In 1958 Walser lived in the U.S. for three months and participated in the Harvard International Seminary.<ref name="LEMO" /> He returned to the U.S. several times, invited by American universities to observe political conditions there.<ref name="Kieselbach" />

Walser's most famous and best-selling work was the novella Runaway Horse, published in 1978. It was both a commercial and a critical success, and was described as "Walser's most beautiful and mature book and a masterful, searing critique of society".<ref name="Kieselbach">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2004 Walser left his long-time publisher Suhrkamp Verlag for Rowohlt Verlag after the death of the Suhrkamp director Template:Ill.<ref name="LEMO" /> An unusual clause in his contract with Suhrkamp allowed him to take the publishing rights to all his works with him. According to Walser, a key reason for the switch was the lack of active support by Suhrkamp during the controversy over his novel Template:Ill (Death of a Critic).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Walser was a member of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Berlin, the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Darmstadt, and the German P.E.N.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2007 the German political magazine {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

WorkEdit

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."<ref name="Illmer" />

He wrote his most successful book, the novella Runaway Horse, in just two weeks. Its protagonists are two very different men, former school friends who experience a mid-life crisis.<ref name="Kieselbach" />

Walser's books have been translated into many languages.<ref name="Kieselbach" /> In 2007 he gave many of his manuscripts to the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach for preservation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some of them feature in a permanent exhibition at the Literaturmuseum der Moderne in Marbach, including Ein springender Brunnen.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Death of a CriticEdit

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, Template:Nowrap of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (FAZ).<ref name="Illmer" /> Critics characterized his portrayal as "playing on numerous anti-Semitic cliches".<ref name="Kieselbach" /> The novel caused a scandal, especially in view of Reich-Ranicki's Jewish heritage and Walser's former membership in the Nazi Party.<ref name="Kieselbach" /> The novel was hotly debated even before it was released. Frank Schirrmacher, editor of the FAZ, refused to print an advance excerpt in the paper, as had traditionally been done for Walser's books.<ref name="LEMO" />

In May 2010, Reich-Ranicki commented in an interview with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}: "I don't think he is an anti-Semite. But it is important to him to demonstrate that the critic who allegedly tortured him most is also a Jew. He expects his public to follow him in this. You see, there never was an anti-Semitic line or remark from Grass, not one. And I certainly haven't written only positively about his books."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> After the scandal, Walser was not welcome in the U.S. for a long time.<ref name="Kieselbach" />

Political engagementEdit

Walser was known for his political activity.<ref name="Arens"/> In 1961, he was the first literary writer to support the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in an election campaign.<ref name="LEMO" />

File:Martin Walser 1992.jpg
Walser at a reading in Germany, 1992

In 1964, Walser attended the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, and was involved in protests against the Vietnam War.<ref name="Platthaus" /><ref name="Arens"/> During the late 1960s, Walser, like many German left intellectuals, including Günter Grass, supported Willy Brandt for chancellor of West Germany.<ref name="Arens"/>

In the 1960s and 1970s, Walser moved further to the left and was considered a sympathizer of the DKP, the newly formed West German Communist Party. He was friends with leading German Marxists such as Template:Ill and even visited Moscow during this time. By the 1980s, Walser began shifting back to the political right. In 1988 he gave a series of lectures titled "Speeches about One's Own Country" in which he made clear that he considered the division of Germany a painful and intolerable gulf.<ref name="LEMO" /> This was also the topic of his story {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

In 1950, Walser married Katharina ("Käthe") Neuner-Jehle. The couple had four daughters:<ref name="LEMO" /> the actress Franziska Walser, the writer and painter Alissa Walser, the writer Johanna Walser, and the writer Theresia Walser.<ref name="Suhrkamp" /> German journalist Jakob Augstein is Walser's son from a relationship with translator Maria Carlsson.<ref>Gerrit Bartels: Augstein und Walser. Vater und Sohn: Eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit. In: Der Tagesspiegel. 28 November 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2012.</ref>

Walser died in Nussdorf on 26 July 2023,<ref>Schriftsteller Martin Walser bereits am 26. Juli gestorben. In: FR.de, 4 August 2023.</ref> at age 96.<ref name="Illmer" /><ref name="Platthaus">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Hoffmann">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

AwardsEdit

Walser was awarded the Hermann Hesse Prize in 1957 for his first novel.<ref name="Agazzi" /> He received the Georg Büchner Prize in 1981,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Ricarda Huch Prize of Darmstadt in 1990,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1998, and the Friedrich Nietzsche Prize in 2015 for his life's achievements,<ref name="Illmer" /><ref name="WELT 2015">Template:Cite news</ref> among many other awards.<ref name="Suhrkamp" />

Peace Prize of the German Book TradeEdit

In 1998 Walser was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. His acceptance speech, given at St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt, invoked issues of historical memory and political engagement in contemporary German politics and unleashed a controversy that roiled German intellectual circles. Walser's acceptance speech was titled: "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (Experiences while drafting a soap box speech):<ref name="2008FrankfurtSpeech" />Template:Efn Template:Quote

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.<ref>Eshel, Amir: "Jewish Memories, German Futures: Recent Debates in Germany about the Past" Template:Webarchive, page 12. 2000. (PDF-File, 6 MB)</ref> Some days after the event, and again on 9Template:NbspNovember, the 60th anniversary of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} pogrom against German Jews, Bubis accused Walser of "intellectual arson" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})<ref name="Illmer" /> and claimed that Walser's speech was both "trying to block out history or, respectively, to eliminate the remembrance" and pleading "for a culture of looking away and thinking away".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Then the controversy started. As described by Karsten Luttmer:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Walser replied by accusing Bubis to have stepped out of dialogue between people. Walser and Bubis met on 12 December<ref name="LEMO" /> to discuss the heated controversy and settle the dispute.<ref name="Illmer" /> Bubis withdrew his claim that Walser had been intentionally incendiary, and Walser maintained that his speech was unambiguous. They agreed that no appropriate language had yet been found to deal with Germany's past.<ref name="LEMO" />

WorksEdit

File:Gruppe 47 - Sechzig Jahre danach 6.jpg
Walser (l.) and Grass it a meeting of members of Group 47, 2007
File:Martin walser 03.jpg
Walser in 2008
File:Martin Walser 2010.JPG
Walser in 2010
File:Martin Walser auf dem Blauen Sofa der LBM 2012.jpg
Walser in 2012
File:Porträtplastik Martin Walser Schrägansicht.jpg
Portrait sculpture, 2006

Walser's books were published by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, until 2003. The publisher printed an edition of his works in 12 volumes in 1997.<ref name="Suhrkamp">Template:Cite book</ref> Beginning in 2004, Walser's works were published by Rowohlt, Reinbek. His works include:<ref name="Fetz">Template:Cite book</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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Film scriptsEdit

  • Chiarevalle wird entdeckt, directed by Hannes Tannert (1963, TV film)
  • Das Unheil (Havoc), directed by Peter Fleischmann (1972)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Films of Walser's novels and playsEdit

  • Der Abstecher, directed by Template:Ill (1962, TV film, based on the play of the same name)<ref name="Movie">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Eiche und Angora, directed by Template:Ill (1964, TV film, based on the play of the same name)
  • Eiche und Angora, directed by Template:Ill (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)<ref name="Movie" />
  • Überlebensgroß Herr Krott, directed by Martin Batty and Karl Vibach (1971, TV film, based on the play of the same name)
  • Das Einhorn, directed by Peter Patzak (1978, based on the novel of the same name)<ref name="Movie" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Template:Ill, directed by Alf Brustellin (1979, based on the novel of the same name)<ref name="Movie" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Template:Ill, directed by Peter Beauvais (1986, TV film, based on the novella of the same name)<ref name="Fuhr" /><ref name="Movie" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Alles aus Liebe: Säntis, directed by Template:Ill (1986, TV series episode, based on the story Säntis)
  • Ohne einander, directed by Template:Ill (2007, TV film, based on the novel of the same name)<ref name="Movie" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Template:Ill, directed by Rainer Kaufmann (2007, based on the novella of the same name)<ref name="Fuhr" /><ref name="Movie" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Template:Martin Walser Template:Georg Büchner Prize Template:Schiller Memorial Prize winners

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