Ulrich Horstmann
Encyclopedia
Ulrich Horstmann born in Bünde
, is a German
literary scholar and writer.
. He was a lecturer at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. After habilitation
in 1983 he lectured at the University of Münster
until 1987. Since 1991 he has been a professor of English and American literature at the University of Giessen
. He lives in Marburg
on the Lahn
river.
Since 1976 Ulrich Horstmann has published, alongside scientific work, essays, novels and plays of his own, as well as translations from English. In 1983 he became known for his treatise The Beast, in which he promoted a philosophical position which was diametrically opposed to the peace movement
Zeitgeist of those years: He advocated a philosophy of "escape of mankind" which aims for an early self-destruction of the human race by means of the accumulated nuclear weapons found in arsenals around the world. He pushed the pessimism and misanthropy of his mentor Schopenhauer to the extreme. Horst's work was not, as some had suspected, a particularly bitter satire, as was shown by the author's subsequent publications which were written with an attitude of nihilism and extreme distaste for the world.
Ulrich Horstmann is a member of PEN
Germany and has received the Kleist Prize
in 1988 after being nominated by Günter Kunert.
Bünde
Bünde is a town in the Herford district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Bünde is situated between Osnabrück , Hannover and Bielefeld .- Waterways :...
, is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
literary scholar and writer.
Life
Ulrich Horstmann finished his studies in English and Philosophy in 1974 with a doctoral thesis on Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. He was a lecturer at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. After habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
in 1983 he lectured at the University of Münster
University of Münster
The University of Münster is a public university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The WWU is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities...
until 1987. Since 1991 he has been a professor of English and American literature at the University of Giessen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
. He lives in Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
on the Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
river.
Since 1976 Ulrich Horstmann has published, alongside scientific work, essays, novels and plays of his own, as well as translations from English. In 1983 he became known for his treatise The Beast, in which he promoted a philosophical position which was diametrically opposed to the peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
Zeitgeist of those years: He advocated a philosophy of "escape of mankind" which aims for an early self-destruction of the human race by means of the accumulated nuclear weapons found in arsenals around the world. He pushed the pessimism and misanthropy of his mentor Schopenhauer to the extreme. Horst's work was not, as some had suspected, a particularly bitter satire, as was shown by the author's subsequent publications which were written with an attitude of nihilism and extreme distaste for the world.
Ulrich Horstmann is a member of PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
Germany and has received the Kleist Prize
Kleist Prize
The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Republic, but was discontinued in 1933.In 1985 the prize...
in 1988 after being nominated by Günter Kunert.
Thought
Horstmann puts forth the theory that mankind has been pre-programmed to eliminate itself in the course of history—and also all its memory of itself—through war (thermonuclear, genetic, biological), genocide, destruction of its sustaining environment, etc.Works
- Ansätze zu einer technomorphen Theorie der Dichtung bei Edgar Allan Poe, Bern 1975. ISBN 3-261-01741-4 (Approaches to a technomorph theory of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry)
- Er starb aus freiem Entschluß- Ein Schriftwechsel mit Nekropolis, Obertshausen 1976 (under the name Klaus Steintal) (He died from a free decision - a correspondence with necropolis)
- Wordcadavericon, oder small thermonuclear Versschule for anybody, Cologne 1977. ISBN 3-88097-052-1 (Wordcadavericon or small thermonuclear verse school for everyone)
- Nachgedichte Miniaturen aus der Menschenleere, Essen 1980 (After poems, Miniatures from the human emptiness)
- Steintals Vandalenpark Erzählung. Siegen 1981. ISBN 3-922524-04-4 (Steintal's vandal park. Narrative)
- Terrarium oder Einführung in die Menschenhaltung . Munich 1981 (Terrarium or introduction into the keeping of humans. Stage manuscript)
- Ästhetizismus und Dekadenz. Zum Paradigmakonflikt in der englischen Literaturtheorie des späten 19. Jahrhunderts. Munich 1983. ISBN 3-7705-2098-X (Aestheticism and decadence. About paradigm conflict in the English theory of literature of the late 19th century)
- Parakritik und Dekonstruktion . Paradise criticism and deconstruction. An introduction to the American post. Würzburg 1983. ISBN 3-88479-131-1
- The Beast (Das Untier). Contours of a philosophy of human flight. Vienna [including] 1983. ISBN 3-88602-075-4 (reprint Warendorf 2004. ISBN 3-936345-47-3)
- Brain Stroke (Hirnschlag), Aphorisms, Abtestate, Berserkasmen. Göttingen 1984. ISBN 3-88694-501-4
- Silo, A lesson in brood care. (Stage manuscript) Göttingen 1984
- The Donor (Der Spender), A comedy for Empfängnisbereite. (Stage manuscript) Munich 1984
- The Fortunes of OmB'assa, fantastic novel (Das Glück von OmB'assa , Phantastischer Roman), Frankfurt am Main 1985. ISBN 3-518-37588-1
- The Long Shadow of Melancholy (Der lange Schatten der Melancholie), Essay on a angeschwärztes feeling. Essen 1985. ISBN 3-924368-24-4
- Ufo oder Der dritte Stand . Eine leicht versandete Komödie. UFO, or the third. Comedy A slightly silted. (Stage manuscript) Munich 1987
- SchwedentrunkSchwedentrunkThe Schwedentrunk is a method of torture and execution. The name was invented by German victims of Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. This method of torture was administered by other international troops, mercenaries, and marauders, and especially by civilians following the Swedish...
. Sweden draft. Gedichte. Poems. Frankfurt am Main 1989. ISBN 3-596-22362-8 - Patzer . Patzer. Roman. Zurich 1990. ISBN 3-251-00165-5
- Ansichten vom großen Umsonst . Views from large Zilch. Essays. Gütersloh 1991. ISBN 3-579-01114-6
- Ich kaufe ein Gedankenlos . I buy a Gedankenlos. Aphorismen. Aphorisms. Hamburg 1993
- Infernodrom . Infernodrom. Programm-Mitschnitte aus dreizehn Jahren. Programm-Mitschnitte thirteen years. Paderborn 1994. ISBN 3-927104-82-5
- Altstadt mit Skins . Old Town with skins. Gedichte. Poems. Paderborn 1995. ISBN 3-927104-96-5
- Conservatory (Konservatorium), Stories about short or long. Paderborn 1995. ISBN 3-89621-017-3
- Summon Shadow Realm (Beschwörung Schattenreich), Collected plays and radio plays 1978 until 1990, with an essay about the art, to go to hell. Paderborn 1996. ISBN 3-89621-036-x
- Gateway (Einfallstor), New aphorisms. Oldenburg 1998. ISBN 3-89621-065-3
- Jeffers-Meditationen oder Die Poesie als Abwendungskunst . Jeffers-Meditationen or averting The poetry as art. Heidelberg 1998. ISBN 3-930978-10-5
- Abdrift . Drift. Neue Essays. New essays. Oldenburg 2000. ISBN 3-89621-103-X
- Göttinnen, leicht verderblich . Goddesses, easily perishable. Gedichte. Poems. Oldenburg 2000. ISBN 3-89621-106-4
- J . Ein Halbweltroman. J. A half-Roman World. Oldenburg 2002. ISBN 3-89621-138-2
- Ausgewiesene Experten . Expelled experts. Kunstfeindschaft in der Literaturtheorie des 20. Art hostility in the literary theory of 20th Jahrhunderts. Century. Frankfurt am Main [including] 2003. ISBN 3-631-50887-5
- Picknick am Schlagfluß . Picnic on strike river. Poems. Oldenburg, 2005. ISBN 3-89621-204-4
As editor
- Philipp MainländerPhilipp MainländerPhilipp Mainländer was a German poet and philosopher. Born as Philipp Batz, he later changed his name into Mainländer from adoration for his hometown Offenbach am Main.In his central work Die Philosophie der Erlösung —according to Theodor Lessing...
: Philosophie der Erlösung, Frankfurt am Main 1989. ISBN 3-458-32848-3 - Kunstgriffe. Auskünfte zur Reichweite von Literaturtheorie und Literaturkritik. Festschrift für Herbert Mainusch. Frankfurt am Main [u.a.] 1990. ISBN 3-631-40723-8
- Jack LondonJack LondonJohn Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
: Der Ruf der Wildnis, München [u.a.] 1991. ISBN 3-538-06631-0 - Die stillen Brüter. Ein Melancholie-Lesebuch. Hamburg 1992. ISBN 3-88506-199-6
- English aphorisms, Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-15-009296-5
- Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
: „Mein Name ist Prinz Paradox“, Stuttgart 2000. ISBN 3-15-018059-7 - Oscar Wilde: Oscar Wilde for pleasure, Stuttgart 2002. ISBN 3-15-009098-9
- Philipp Mainländer: Vom Verwesen der Welt und anderen Restposten, Warendorf 2003. ISBN 3-933497-87-6
Translations
- Robert BurtonRobert BurtonRobert Burton may refer to:* Robert Burton , Master of University College, Oxford, England * Robert Burton , English scholar and vicar* Robert Burton, Sr. , printing industry executive...
: Anatomie der Melancholie, Zürich [u.a.] 1988. ISBN 3-87162-007-6 (Neue Ausgabe in Die Andere Bibliothek Nr. 228, Frankfurt am Main 2003. ISBN 3-8218-4529-5 ) - Greg Cullen: Heldengedenken. Ein Falkland-Requiem. (Bühnenmanuskript) München 1987
- Ted HughesTed HughesEdward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
: Gedichte, Heidelberg 1995. ISBN 3-930978-23-7 - Philip LarkinPhilip LarkinPhilip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
: Hier, (Privatdruck) Marburg 2002 - Jack London: Der Seewolf, München 1990. ISBN 3-538-06627-2
- Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
: Ein Tonnenmärchen, Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-15-000652-X - James Thomson: Nachtstadt und andere lichtscheue Schriften, Zürich 1992. ISBN 3-251-20122-0
Literature
- Burkhard Biella: Zur Kritik des anthropofugalen Denkens, Essen 1986. ISBN 3-89206-108-4
- Rajan Autze / Frank Müller: Steintal-Geschichten. Auskünfte zu Ulrich Horstmann. Oldenburg 2000. ISBN 3-89621-111-0
External links
- Synopsis of "The Beast. Outlines of a Philosophy of Fleeing Mankind"
- http://www.untier.de/
- http://www.uni-giessen.de/~ga46/
- http://www.wlb-unna.de/
- http://www.literaturkritik.de/public/rezension.php?rez_id=583 Interview mit Horstmann