Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Hans Magnus Enzensberger (born 11 November 1929 in Kaufbeuren), is a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He has also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr. He lives in Munich.

Life

Enzensberger studied literature and philosophy at the universities of Erlangen, Freiburg and Hamburg, and at the Sorbonne in Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1955 for a thesis about Clemens Brentano's poetry. Until 1957 he worked as a radio editor in Stuttgart. He participated in several gatherings of Group 47. Between 1965 and 1975 he edited the magazine "Kursbuch". Since 1985 he has been the editor of the prestigious book series Die Andere Bibliothek, published in Frankfurt, and now containing almost 250 titles. Enzensberger is the founder of the monthly TransAtlantik. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Enzensberger is the older brother of the author Christian Enzensberger.

Work

Enzensberger has a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems. For example, the poem "Middle Class Blues" consists of various typicalities of middle class life, with the phrase "we can't complain" repeated several times, and concludes with "what are we waiting for?". Many of his poems also feature themes of civil unrest over economic and class based issues. Though primarily a poet and essayist, he also makes excursions into theater, film, opera, radio drama, reportage, translation. He has written novels and several books for children (including The Number Devil, an exploration of mathematics) and is co-author of a book for German as a foreign language (Die Suche). He also invented and collaborated in the construction of a machine which automatically composes poems. It was used during the 2006 Football World Cup to commentate on games.

In 2009, Enzensberger received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annual Griffin Poetry Prize.

Honours received

1963 Georg-Büchner-Preis; see also Georg Büchner
1985 Heinrich-Böll-Preis; see also Heinrich Böll
1993 Erich-Maria-Remarque-Friedenspreis; see also Erich Maria Remarque
1998 Heinrich-Heine-Preis; see also Heinrich Heine
2002 Prince of Asturias Communications and Humanities award
2009 Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award

Published works

Verteidigung der Wölfe, Poems, 1957
Viele schöne Kinderreime, 777 poems for children, 1962
Einzelheiten, Essays, 1962
Politik und Verbrechen, Essays, 1964
Deutschland, Deutschland unter anderm, political commentary, 1967
Das Verhör von Habana, Prose, 1970
Constituents of a Theory of the Media, 1970
Der kurze Sommer der Anarchie. Buenaventura Durrutis Leben und Tod, Prose, 1972
Gespräche mit Marx und Engels, 1970
Palaver. Politische Überlegungen, Essays, 1974
Mausoleum. 37 Balladen aus der Geschichte des Fortschritts, Poems, 1975
Polit. Brosamen, Essays, 1982
Ach, Europa! Wahrnehmungen aus sieben Ländern, Prose, 1987
Mittelmass und Wahn, Essays, 1989
Zukunftsmusik, Poems, 1991
Die Tochter der Luft, Drama, 1992
Die Große Wanderung, Essays, 1992
Zickzack, Aufsätze, 1997
The Math Devil, Novel, 1997
Wo warst du, Robert?, Novel, 1998
Leichter als Luft: Moralische Gedichte, Poems, 1999
Schreckens Maenner: Versuch ueber den radikalen Verlierer (5th ed.), Essay, 2006
Einzelheiten I & II, Essays, 2006
Gedichte 1950-2005, Poems, 2006
Im Irrgarten der Intelligenz / Ein Idiotenführer, Essay, 2007
Hammerstein oder der Eigensinn, Biography, 2008

Bibliography (English)

Where Were You, Robert? also known as Lost in Time, 2000
Lighter Than Air: Moral Poems, 2000
Selected Poems, 1999
The Number Devil, 1997
Zig Zag: The Politics of Culture and Vice Versa, 1997
Civil War, 1994
Civil Wars: From L.A. to Bosnia, 1994
Selected Poems, 1994
Mediocrity and Delusion: Collected Diversions, 1992
Political Crumbs, 1990
Der Untergang der Titanic (The Sinking of the Titanic), Versepos, 1978
Europe, Europe: Forays Into a Continent, 1989
Dreamers of the Absolute: Essays On: Politics, Crime and Culture, 1988
Critical Essays, 1982
The Sinking of the Titanic: A Poem, 1980
Raids and Reconstructions: Essays on Politics, Crime, and Culture, 1976
Mausoleum: Thirty-Seven Ballads from the History of Progress, 1976
The Havana Inquiry, 1974
The Consciousness Industry: On Literature, Politics and the Media, 1974
Politics and Crime, 1974

Articles

“Tour of the City”. [http://www.telospress.com Telos] 29 (Fall 1976). New York: Telos Press.

Translation

The phrase "Hans Magnus Enzensberger" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Catalan, Czech, German, Spanish, Esperanto, French, Galician, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Finnish, Swedish, Turkish.

Translation(s) in other languages: Bulgarian: Ханс Магнус Енценсбергер, Korean: 한스 마그누스 엔첸스베르거, Macedonian: Ханс Магнус Енценсбергер, Japanese: ハンス・マグヌス・エンツェンスベルガー, Russian: Энценсбергер, Ганс Магнус.