Walther Killy

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Walther Killy
Born(1917-08-26)26 August 1917
Bonn, German Empire
Died28 December 1995(1995-12-28) (aged 78)
Kampen, Germany
Occupations
  • Literary scholar
  • Editor
Organizations
AwardsSigmund Freud Prize

Walther Killy (26 August 1917 – 28 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, as founding rector of the University of Bremen, as visiting scholar at the University of California and Harvard University, and at the University of Bern. He became known as editor of literary encyclopedias, the Killy Literaturlexikon and the Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie
.

Life

Killy was born in Bonn, the son of the lawyer[1] Leo Killy [de]. He studied German, and wrote his doctoral thesis Die Überlieferung der Gedichte Hölderlins, about the tradition of poems by Friedrich Hölderlin, with Julius Petersen in 1940.[2] Killy and his father encouraged Petersen and Friedrich Beißner [de] in Weimar to produce a historical-critical edition of Hölderlin's works, planned to appear in time for the Hölderlin anniversary year 1943.[2] Since Hölderlin was held in high esteem during the Nazi era, this undertaking received broad official support.[2]

When Killy returned from being a prisoner of war in

Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen.[6]

From 1968 to 1970, he was chairman of the founding committee of the

Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel.[3][7] He was a member of the Braunschweigische Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft [de] 1979.[1] He was awarded the Niedersachsenpreis for journalism in 1983,[1] and the Sigmund Freud Prize for academic prose in 1990.[8]

Killy died at the age of 78 in Kampen, Sylt.[7][8]

In 1996, the library of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg acquired the Killy's private library. The unique collection contains 6414 titles from the publication years 1557 to 1995.[9] Part of the Killy Library is one of the most valuable Paul Celan collections in Europe with many dedicatory copies, and a copy of the 1698 first edition of Poetische Wälder by Christian Gryphius [de]. All publications of this library are available in the catalogue of the university library.[9]

Publisher

Killy was editor of many compendia and anthologies as well as initiator and organiser of encyclopaedias, including Bertelsmann's Literaturlexikon (Literary Encyclopedia),

Walter de Gruyter. Killy was also a contributor to the Stuttgart Hölderlin Edition edited by Friedrich Beißner and co-editor of the works of Georg Trakl
.

Publications

Editor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Walther Killy". Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (in German). 16 October 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-3-11-016157-1. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )    ]
  3. ^
    University of Magdeburg
    : 2. February 2004. Retrieved 16 September 2020.]
  4. ^ Bild und Mythe in Hölderlin's Poems German National Library
  5. ^ Rektoratsreden (HKM)
  6. ISBN 3-525-82516-1
    , p. 131.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Gestorben. Walther Killy". Der Spiegel (in German). 8 January 1996. Retrieved 11 September 2020.]
  8. ^ a b "Siegmund-Freud-Preis". deutscheakademie.de. Retrieved 11 September 2020.]
  9. ^
    University of Magdeburg
    . Retrieved 11 September 2020.]
  10. ^ "Killy Literaturlexikon". HEIDI (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2020.

Further reading

External links

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