Johannes Bobrowski

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Berlin-Mitte
, Germany

Johannes Bobrowski (originally Johannes Konrad Bernhard Bobrowski; 9 April 1917 – 2 September 1965) was a German lyric poet, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist.

Life

Bobrowski was born on 9 April 1917

Second World War in Poland, France and the Soviet Union. In 1943 he married Johanna Buddrus
.

From 1945 to 1949 Bobrowski was imprisoned by the Soviet Union, where he spent time working in a coal mine. On his release, he returned home to his family in the suburban Berlin district of Friedrichshagen,[2] in the Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. He worked as an editor, first for the Altberliner Verlag, a children's publisher run by Lucie Grosner, and then, from 1959 on, for the Union Verlag publishing house.

Bobrowski's work was influenced by his knowledge of Eastern European landscapes and of the German, Baltic, and Slavic cultures and languages, combined with ancient myths. His first poems were published during the war, in 1944, in the Munich-based journal Das innere Reich.[2]

In 1960 he read his poems at a meeting in

Sarmatian Times), was published in both West and East Germany.[2][3] After having missed the fall 1961 meeting of the Group 47, since it took place just after the building of the Berlin Wall,[3] he was able to attend the subsequent meeting, held in October 1962 at the Wannsee, in West Berlin. On that occasion he read seven poems from those that would later appear in his collection Wetterzeichen (Weather signs), and was awarded the group's prestigious literary prize.[2][3]

In 1964, Bobrowski became a member of the PEN Club.

Bobrowski died as a result of a perforated appendix in East Berlin on 2 September 1965,[1] and was buried in the Friedrichshagen cemetery.[2] Since 1992, the Foundation for Prussian Maritime Trade (Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung) has donated funds towards the Johannes Brobrowski Medal.

Literary works

  • Sarmatische Zeit (The Land of Sarmatia), poems, 1961
  • Schattenland Ströme (Shadowland), poems, 1962
  • Levins Mühle, 34 Sätze über meinen Großvater (Levin's Mill,34 Stories About My Grandfather ) novel, 1964
  • Boehlendorff und Mäusefest, Short stories, 1965
  • Litauische Claviere (Lithuanian Pianos), novel, 1966
  • Wetterzeichen (Weathersigns), poems, 1967
  • Der Mahner" (The Admonisher), short stories, 1967 translated by Marc Linder into English with "Boehlendorff und Mausefest" as "I Taste Bitterness" in 1970
  • Im Windgesträuch (In the windy wilderness), poems chosen by Bobrowski's
    literary executor[who?
    ], 1970
  • Shadowlands Selected Poems translated by Ruth Mead & Matthew Mead, 1984

Films

Opera

Prizes

About Bobrowski and his work

References

  1. ^ a b Bobrowski, Johannes (1984). Shadow Lands: Selected Poems. London: Anvil Press Poetry.
  2. ^ a b c d e Scrase, David (1995). Understanding Johannes Bobrowski. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. Chronology, p. xiii-xvi, and p. 2 (on the family's move to Friedrichshagen in 1937).
  3. ^ a b c d Wieczorek, John (1999). "Johannes Bobrowski und die Gruppe 47." In: Keith Stuart Parkes and John J. White (eds.), The Gruppe 47: Fifty Years on: A Re-Appraisal of its Literary and Political Significance. Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 213-227.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Johannes_Bobrowski&oldid=1173258359"