Botho Strauß
Encyclopedia
Botho Strauss is a German playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist and essayist.

Biography

Botho Strauss's father was a chemist. After finishing his secondary education, Strauss studied German, History of the Theatre and Sociology in Cologne and Munich, but never finished his dissertation on Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...

 und das Theater. During his studies, he worked as extra at the Munich Kammerspiele
Munich Kammerspiele
The Munich Kammerspiele is a successful German language theatre in Munich. The Schauspielhaus in the Maximilianstrasse is the major stage.-History:...

. From 1967 to 1970, he worked as critic and editorial journalist for the journal Theater heute (Theater Today). From 1970 to 1975, he worked as dramaturgical
Dramaturge
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas...

 assistant of Peter Stein
Peter Stein
Peter Stein is a critically acclaimed German theatre and opera director who established himself at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, a company that he brought to the forefront of German theatre....

 at the West Berlin Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer. After his first attempt as writer, during which he adapted Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...

 for the screen, he decided to live and work as a writer. He had his first breakthrough as a dramatist in the 1977 Trilogie des Wiedersehens five years after the publication of his first work. In 1984 he published his important oeuvre, Der Junge Mann (The young man, translated by Roslyn Theobald in 1995).

In a 1993 Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...

 essay "Anschwellender Bocksgesang" ("Swelling Goat Song"), a critical examination of modern civilisation, he triggered a major political controversy as his conservative politics was anathema to many.

In his theoretical work, Strauss showed the influence of the ancient classics, Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

, Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...

 as well as Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....

, but his outlook was also radically anti-bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

.

His work as a writer has been recognized with numerous international prizes and his dramas are among the most performed in German language theaters.

Strauss presently lives in Berlin.

Works

  • Die Ähnlichen: moral Interludes; Der Kuss des Vergessens: Vivarium rot, two plays (1998) ISBN 3446192921
  • Angelas Kleider: Nachtstück in zwei Teilen (1991) ISBN 3446164340
  • Beginnlosigkeit: Reflexionen über Fleck und Linie (1992) ISBN 3446171126
  • Besucher, three plays (1988) ISBN 3446152571
  • Diese Erinnerung an einen, der nur einen Tag zu Gast war, poem (1985) ISBN 3446143963
  • Die eine und die andere, play in two acts (2005) ISBN 3446206205 (pbk.)
  • Die Fehler des Kopisten (1997) ISBN 3446190295
  • Fragmente der Undeutlichkeit (1989) ISBN 3446157360
  • Die Fremdenführerin, play in two acts (1986) ISBN 3446144978 (pbk.)
  • Der Gebärdensammler, texts on theatre, edited by Thomas Oberender (1999) ISBN 3886612171
  • Gedankenfluchten (1999) ISBN 3518223267
  • Das Gleichgewicht play in three acts (1993) ISBN 3446174982
  • Groß und klein, scenes (1978) ISBN 3466125981
  • Die Hypochonder; Bekannte Gesichter, gemischte Gefühle, two plays (1979) ISBN 3446128174
  • Ithaka, play after the homecoming canto
    Canto
    The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

    s of the Odyssey
    Odyssey
    The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...

     (1996) ISBN 3446185771
  • Jeffers – Akt I und II (1998) ISBN 3446195289
  • Der junge Mann (1984) ISBN 3446141340
  • Kalldewey, farce (1981) ISBN 3446134778
  • Kongress: die Kette der Demütigungen (1989)
  • Botho Strauß / Neo Rauch
    Neo Rauch
    Neo Rauch is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owes a debt to Surrealists Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte, although Rauch hesitates to align...

    : Der Mittler, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-930754-44-4
  • Mikado (2006) ISBN 3-446-20808-9
  • Marlenes Schwester, two novellas (1975) ISBN 3446120114
  • Die Nacht mit Alice, als Julia ums Haus schlich (2003) ISBN 3446203575
  • Der Narr und seine Frau heute abend in Pancomedia (2001) ISBN 3446200878
  • Niemand anderes 2nd ed. (1987) ISBN 3446148906
  • Paare, Passanten 2nd ed. (1981) ISBN 3446134506
  • Der Park, play (1983) ISBN 3446137726 loosely based on Shakespeare's
    William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

     A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

  • Das Partikular (2000) ISBN 3446198865
  • Rumor (1980) ISBN 3446129901
  • Schändung after Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
    Titus Andronicus
    Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...

     (2005) ISBN 3446206264 (pbk.)
  • Schlusschor, three acts (1991) ISBN 3446162186
  • Schützenehre, novella (1975) ISBN 3873650711
  • Trilogie des Wiedersehens, play (1976) ISBN 3446122699
  • Tumult translated by Michael Hulse
    Michael Hulse
    Michael Hulse is an English translator, critic, and poet.-Life and Works:Hulse has translated over sixty books from the German, among them works by Goethe, Rilke, and Jakob Wassermann. He is nowadays most familiar as the translator of three of W. G. Sebald's books: The Emigrants, The Rings of...

     (1984) ISBN 0856354724
  • Unerwartete Rückkehr (2002) ISBN 3446202544
  • Der Untenstehende auf Zehenspitzen (2004) ISBN 3446204911
  • Versuch, ästhetische und politische Ereignisse zusammenzudenken, texts on theatre 1967–1986 (1987) ISBN 3886610802
  • Die Widmung, novella (1977) ISBN 3446124152
  • Wohnen, dämmern, lügen (1994) ISBN 3446178759

English translations

  • Drama Contemporary. Germany: plays by Botho Strauss et al.; edited by Carl Weber. (1996) ISBN 080185279X (alk. paper) ISBN 0801852803 (pbk., alk. paper)
  • Big and Little, scenes, translated by Anne Cattaneo (1979) ISBN 0374112541
  • Big and Small, translated by Martin Crimp
    Martin Crimp
    Martin Andrew Crimp is a British playwright.Sometimes described as a practitioner of the "in-yer-face" school of contemporary British drama, Crimp though rejects the label...

     (2011)
    A Sydney Theatre Company
    Sydney Theatre Company
    The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....

     production, co-commissioned by the Barbican Centre
    Barbican Centre
    The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...

    , London 2012 Festival, Théâtre de la Ville
    Théâtre de la Ville
    The Théâtre de la Ville is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris; the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet...

    , Paris, Vienna Festival
    Vienna Festival
    The Wiener Festwochen is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June.The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies...

     and Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen
    Recklinghausen
    Recklinghausen is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south...

    ; Cate Blanchett
    Cate Blanchett
    Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...

     as Lotte.
  • Couples, Passersby translated by Roslyn Theobald (1996) ISBN 0810112426 (alk. paper)
  • Devotion translated by Sophie Wilkins (1995) ISBN 0810113422 (pbk., alk. paper)
  • Living, Glimmering, Lying translated by Roslyn Theobald (1999) ISBN 0810112833 (alk. paper)
  • The Park translated by Tinch Minter and Anthony Vivis, Sheffield Academic Press (1988) ISBN 1850751889
  • The Young Man translated by Roslyn Theobald (1995) ISBN 0810113384 (alk. paper)
  • Three Plays (The Park, Seven Doors, Time and the Room) translated by Jeremy Sams
    Jeremy Sams
    Jeremy Sams is a British film director, writer, translator, orchestrator, musical director, film composer, and lyricist....

    , Oberon, 2006 ISBN 9781840024760

Prizes and Awards

  • 1987 Jean Paul Prize
  • 1989 Georg Buechner Prize
  • 1993 Berlin Theatre Prize
  • 2007 Schiller Memorial Prize
    Schiller Memorial Prize
    The Schiller Memorial Prize is a literature prize of the State ofBaden-Württemberg. It is presently endowed with 25,000 Euros and has been awarded since 1955 on Friedrich Schiller's birthday, 10 November. The prize acknowledges outstanding work in the field of German literature or intellectual...


External links

  • Botho Strauß: New German dramatic art. Goethe-Institut
    Goethe-Institut
    The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...

    s Website
  • "Books in Brief: Fiction" on Couples, Passersby by Erik Burns, The New York Times
    The New York Times
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

    (29 December 1996)
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