Ulrich Plenzdorf was 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...

 author and dramatist.

Life

Born in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Plenzdorf studied Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, but graduated with a degree in film. He found work at DEFA.

He became famous in both East and West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 for his socially critical work titled "Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.

Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.

Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. is an analytic collage-style novel and play by Ulrich Plenzdorf.- History :...

" Written in the jargon of the GDR-youth of the 1970s, it details the tragic story of a young man and his attempt to break free from his stifling bourgeois environment, drawing parallels between his own life and that of the protagonist in Goethe's

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...

 work The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774; a revised edition of the novel was published in 1787...

 (Die Leiden des jungen Werther) (1774).

Since 2004, Plenzdorf had been a guest lecturer at the Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

.

He died of undisclosed causes, aged 72.

Works

• Karla (1964)
• Kennen Sie Urban? (1970)
• Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.
  Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.
  Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. is an analytic collage-style novel and play by Ulrich Plenzdorf.- History :...
  
  
• Die Legende von Paul und Paula (movie script)
• Der alte Mann, das Pferd, die Straße (1974)
• Buridans Esel (1976)
• Auszug (1977)
• kein runter kein fern (1978)
• Legende vom Glück ohne Ende (1979) (extended novel based on the film Die Legende von Paul und Paula)
• Gutenachtgeschichte (1980)
• Glück im Hinterhaus
• Insel der Schwäne (1983)
• Bockshorn (1984)
• Ein Tag länger als ein Leben (1986)
• Der König und sein Narr
• Der Fall Ö. (1990)
• Der Verdacht (1990)
• Freiheitsberaubung (1987)
• Vater Mutter Mörderkind (1993/94)
• Eins und Eins ist Uneins

Sources

• Der Spiegel obituary