Peter Härtling
Encyclopedia
Peter Härtling is a German writer and poet
. He is a member of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
and he received the Großes Verdienstkreuz for his major contribution to German literature.
, where his father maintained a law firm. Following the outbreak of World War II
, the family moved to the German-occupied town of Olomouc
in Moravia
. Like many of the town's German residents, Härtling's family fled before the Red Army
's advance on the city during the final months of the war; the family briefly settled in Zwettl
, Austria
. Härtling's father was captured by the Russians and died in June 1945 at the prisoner-of-war camp
in Dollersheim
. Following the conclusion of World War II, Härtling finally settled in Nürtingen
, Baden-Württemberg
. His mother committed suicide in October 1946. He studied under HAP Grieshaber
at the Bernsteinschule art school before starting work as a journalist.
Härtling had his first collection of poetry published in 1953. From 1967 to 1973, Härtling was the managing director of the German publishing house S. Fischer Verlag
, located in Frankfurt
. Härtling became a full-time writer after leaving S. Fischer Verlag. In the winter semester of 1983/84 he hosted the annual Frankfurter Poetik-Vorlesungen, a lecture series in which a prominent writer discourses on topics pertaining to their work. Härtling used his lectureship to demonstrate the process of using a found object
as the inspiration for a literary work. During the series of lectures he wrote Der spanische Soldat, a short story
based on a photograph by Robert Capa
.
Härtling has worked as the editor of the magazine Der Monat and as the president of the Hölderlin society. He currently lives in Mörfelden-Walldorf
.
Another major influence on Härtling's works has been the literature and music of Romanticism
. Amongst other works, Härtling has written fictionalised biographical works on the writers Friedrich Hölderlin
, Wilhelm Waiblinger
and E. T. A. Hoffmann, and the composers Franz Schubert
and Robert Schumann
.
Jan Procházka, Härtling began writing books for children. His first children's book, Und das ist die ganze Familie, was published the following year. His children's literature has often focused on social problems involving children. In Das war der Hirbel (1973) he wrote about the home of a maladjusted child, Oma (1975) talks about aging and death, whilst Theo haut ab (1977) deals with being uprooted from home and family.
.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. He is a member of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
and he received the Großes Verdienstkreuz for his major contribution to German literature.
Biography
Härtling spent the early part of his childhood living in Hartmannsdorf, MittweidaMittweida (district)
Mittweida is a former district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It was bounded by the districts Muldentalkreis, Döbeln, Freiberg, the district-free city Chemnitz and the district Chemnitzer Land, the district Altenburger Land in Thuringia and the district Leipziger Land.- History :In 1994...
, where his father maintained a law firm. Following the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the family moved to the German-occupied town of Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
in Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. Like many of the town's German residents, Härtling's family fled before the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's advance on the city during the final months of the war; the family briefly settled in Zwettl
Zwettl
Zwettl is a town and district capital in Lower Austria. It is chiefly known as the location of Zwettl Abbey, first mentioned in October 1139.- Geography :...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Härtling's father was captured by the Russians and died in June 1945 at the prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
in Dollersheim
Döllersheim
Döllersheim was, since the mid 19th century, an Austrian municipality in the Waldviertel, the northwestern part of Lower Austria near the border with Bohemia. It included the hamlet of Strones, where Alois Hitler, the father of Adolf Hitler, was born to Maria Schicklgruber in 1837. Strones was very...
. Following the conclusion of World War II, Härtling finally settled in Nürtingen
Nürtingen
Nürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
. His mother committed suicide in October 1946. He studied under HAP Grieshaber
HAP Grieshaber
Helmut Andreas Paul Grieshaber or HAP Grieshaber was a German artist. His preferred medium was large format woodcuts.-Biography:...
at the Bernsteinschule art school before starting work as a journalist.
Härtling had his first collection of poetry published in 1953. From 1967 to 1973, Härtling was the managing director of the German publishing house S. Fischer Verlag
S. Fischer Verlag
The German publishing house S. Fischer Verlag was founded in 1886 by Samuel Fischer in Berlin and is a leading German address for literary publications and fiction.Originally, it was renowned for naturalism literature...
, located in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. Härtling became a full-time writer after leaving S. Fischer Verlag. In the winter semester of 1983/84 he hosted the annual Frankfurter Poetik-Vorlesungen, a lecture series in which a prominent writer discourses on topics pertaining to their work. Härtling used his lectureship to demonstrate the process of using a found object
Found object
A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose, but which exists for another purpose already. Found objects may exist either as utilitarian, manufactured items, or things which occur in nature...
as the inspiration for a literary work. During the series of lectures he wrote Der spanische Soldat, a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
based on a photograph by Robert Capa
Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War...
.
Härtling has worked as the editor of the magazine Der Monat and as the president of the Hölderlin society. He currently lives in Mörfelden-Walldorf
Mörfelden-Walldorf
Mörfelden-Walldorf is a town in the Groß-Gerau district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hessen, Germany.- Location :Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a triangle formed by the South Hessian cities of Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt International...
.
Literary themes
Härtling has devoted a large proportion of his literary output - both in poetry and in prose - to the reclamation of history and his own past. His autobiographical novel Zwettl (1973) deals with the period he spent living in Lower Austria after his family fled from the Red Army. Nachgetragene Liebe (1980) recounts Härtling's earliest memories of his deceased father.Another major influence on Härtling's works has been the literature and music of Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. Amongst other works, Härtling has written fictionalised biographical works on the writers Friedrich Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
, Wilhelm Waiblinger
Wilhelm Waiblinger
Wilhelm Waiblinger was a German romantic poet, mostly remembered today in connection with Friedrich Hölderlin. After he had attended Gymnasium Illustre in Stuttgart, he was a student at the seminary of Tübingen in the 1820s, when Hölderlin, already mentally ill, lived there as a recluse in a...
and E. T. A. Hoffmann, and the composers Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
and Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
.
Children's literature
In 1969, after writing a eulogy for the Czech children's writerChildren's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
Jan Procházka, Härtling began writing books for children. His first children's book, Und das ist die ganze Familie, was published the following year. His children's literature has often focused on social problems involving children. In Das war der Hirbel (1973) he wrote about the home of a maladjusted child, Oma (1975) talks about aging and death, whilst Theo haut ab (1977) deals with being uprooted from home and family.
Radio
Härtling has been the moderator of the Literatur im Kreuzverhör show on hr2, the cultural radio station of Hessischer RundfunkHessischer Rundfunk
Hessischer Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the German state of Hesse. The main offices of HR are in Frankfurt am Main. HR is a member of the ARD.- Studios :...
.
Awards
Peter Härtling's awards include:- 1964: Deutscher Kritikerpreis for Niembsch.
- 1965: Lower SaxonyLower SaxonyLower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
Literature Prize for Niembsch. - 1966: Ehrengabe des Kulturkreises im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie for Niembsch. Prix du Meilleur Livre ÉtrangerPrix du Meilleur Livre ÉtrangerThe Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated in to French.- Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel :* 2010: Gonçalo M...
for the French edition of Niembsch. - 1971: Gerhart Hauptmann prizeGerhart HauptmannGerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.-Life and work:...
of the Freien Volksbühne Berlin for Gilles. - 1974: Schubart-Literaturpreis
- 1976: Deutscher JugendliteraturpreisDeutscher JugendliteraturpreisThe Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's literature. It is Germany's only state-funded literary award. In the past, authors from many countries...
for Oma. - 1977: Stadtschreiber von Bergen
- 1978: Wilhelmine-Lübke-Preis
- 1980: Zurich children's literature prize La vache qui lit for Ben liebt Anna and Sofie macht Geschichten.
- 1982: Naturschutzpreis der Kreisgruppe Groß-Gerau des Bundes für Umwelt und Naturschutz.
- 1987: Hermann Sinsheimer prize and Friedrich Hölderlin prizeFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
- 1992: Lion Feuchtwanger prizeLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
. - 1994: Awarded the title of ProfessorProfessorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
by the state of Baden-WürttembergBaden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
. - 1995: Awarded the Großes BundesverdienstkreuzBundesverdienstkreuzThe Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
.. - 1995: Mainz literature prize
- 1996: Awarded the Wilhelm Leuschner medalWilhelm LeuschnerWilhelm Leuschner was a social-democratic politician who opposed the Third Reich....
of Hessen. - 1996: Awarded the Karl Preusker medal by the German Literature Conference.
- 2000: Eichendorff Literature Prize
- 2001: Awarded a special prize by the Deutscher JugendliteraturpreisDeutscher JugendliteraturpreisThe Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's literature. It is Germany's only state-funded literary award. In the past, authors from many countries...
for his major contribution to children's literature - 2001: Dresdner Poetikdozentur zur Literatur Mitteleuropas (Publikation http://www.amazon.de/dp/3935712316)
- 2003: Deutscher BücherpreisDeutscher JugendliteraturpreisThe Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's literature. It is Germany's only state-funded literary award. In the past, authors from many countries...
for his contribution to literature - 2004: Honourary citizen of NürtingenNürtingenNürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
. - 2006: Gerty Spies Literature Prize
- 2007: CORINE award of the Bavarian Prime Minister for his contribution to literature.