Christian Enzensberger
Encyclopedia
Christian Enzensberger was a German
Professor of English studies
, author
and a translator
of English literature
into German language
.
Born in Nuremberg
, Enzensberger was one of the more enigmatic figures in German letters. Younger brother of the literary celebrity and political figure Hans Magnus Enzensberger
, he maintained a relatively low media profile throughout his career, in spite of being embroiled in one of the more interesting literary scandals of early 70s Germany.
From 1969 until 1982, Enzensberger held a post as Professor of English Literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is today chiefly known in Germany for his 1963 translation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and Alice through the Looking-Glass
.
In 1970 Enzensberger became the only author ever to refuse the Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen
, offered in the wake of the publication of Größerer Versuch über den Schmutz (translated by Sandra Morris and published by Calder & Boyars in 1972 as Smut: An Anatomy of Dirt). The book generated a furore when it was first published in Germany, not least due to its linking of personal cleanliness with totalitarianism. Smut is an experimental work in which dirt is described scientifically, personally and peversely by a panopoly of narrative voices, including fragments from the anthropologist Mary Douglas
alongside writers from Samuel Beckett
through William S. Burroughs
to Jean Genet
. It has since then fallen into neglect and remains out of print in both English and German.
He died in Munich
in January 2009.
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...
Professor of English studies
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and a translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
of English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
into German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
Born in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, Enzensberger was one of the more enigmatic figures in German letters. Younger brother of the literary celebrity and political figure Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Hans Magnus Enzensberger , is a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He has also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr. He lives in Munich.- Life :...
, he maintained a relatively low media profile throughout his career, in spite of being embroiled in one of the more interesting literary scandals of early 70s Germany.
From 1969 until 1982, Enzensberger held a post as Professor of English Literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is today chiefly known in Germany for his 1963 translation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
and Alice through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
.
In 1970 Enzensberger became the only author ever to refuse the Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen
Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen
Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen is a literary prize of Germany....
, offered in the wake of the publication of Größerer Versuch über den Schmutz (translated by Sandra Morris and published by Calder & Boyars in 1972 as Smut: An Anatomy of Dirt). The book generated a furore when it was first published in Germany, not least due to its linking of personal cleanliness with totalitarianism. Smut is an experimental work in which dirt is described scientifically, personally and peversely by a panopoly of narrative voices, including fragments from the anthropologist Mary Douglas
Mary Douglas
Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, FBA was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism....
alongside writers from Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
through William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
to Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
. It has since then fallen into neglect and remains out of print in both English and German.
He died in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in January 2009.
Published works (selection)
- Größerer Versuch über den Schmutz. 1968 (Smut: An Anatomy of Dirt. 1972, translated by Sandra Morris)
- Viktorianische Lyrik. TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
und SwinburneAlgernon Charles SwinburneAlgernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
in der Geschichte der Entfremdung. Hanser Verlag, München 1969 - Literatur und Interesse - Eine politische Ästhetik mit zwei Beispielen aus der englischen Literatur. Band 1: Theorie. Band 2: Beispiele, Shakespeare ‚Der Kaufmann von Venedig’, Dickens ‚Oliver Twist’. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1977 (Zweite, fortgeschriebene Fassung 1981, ISBN 3-518-27902-5)
- Brief an Herbert Marcuse. Akzente. Issue 1, Volume 25. February 1978
- Was ist was. 1988
Translations (selection)
- Von HopkinsGerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
bis Dylan ThomasDylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
. Englische Gedichte und deutsche Prosaübertragungen. Gemeinsam mit Ursula Clemen, Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1961 - George D. Painter: Marcel ProustMarcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
. Teil 1. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1962 - Giorgos SeferisGiorgos SeferisGiorgos or George Seferis was the pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs . He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate...
: Poesie. Gedichte. Griechisch und deutsch. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1962, 4. Auflage 2005 ISBN 3-518-01962-7 - Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
: Alice im Wunderland. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1963, TB ISBN 3-458-31742-2 - Lewis Carroll: Alice hinter den Spiegeln. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1963, TB ISBN 3-458-31797-X
- Edith SitwellEdith SitwellDame Edith Louisa Sitwell DBE was a British poet and critic.-Background:Edith Sitwell was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the oldest child and only daughter of Sir George Sitwell, 4th Baronet, of Renishaw Hall; he was an expert on genealogy and landscaping...
: Gedichte. Englisch und deutsch. Übersetzt von Christian Enzensberger, Erich FriedErich FriedErich Fried , an Austrian poet who settled in England, was known for his political-minded poetry. He was also a broadcaster, translator and essayist....
und Werner Vordtriede, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1964 - Ogden NashOgden NashFrederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".-Early life:Nash was born in Rye, New York...
: I’m a Stranger Here Myself. Selected Poems - Ich bin leider hier auch fremd. Ausgewählte Gedichte. Nachdichtungen von Christian Enzensberger, Walter MehringWalter MehringWalter Mehring was a German author and one of the most prominent satirical authors in the Weimar Republic. He was banned during the Third Reich, and fled the country.-Biographical:...
und Ulrich Sonnemann, Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 1969 - Edward BondEdward BondEdward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
: Trauer zu früh. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1969 - Edward Bond: Lear. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1972
- T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
: Gesammelte Gedichte 1909-1962. Zweisprachige Ausgabe. Aus dem Englischen von Christian Enzensberger u. a., Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1972, TB 2002 ISBN 3-518-38067-2 - Edward Bond: Bingo. Szenen von Geld und Tod. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1975
- Ian McEwanIan McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
: Der Zementgarten. Aus dem Englischen von einer studentischen Arbeitsgruppe unter Leitung von Christian Enzensberger, Diogenes Verlag, Zürich 1980, TB ISBN 3-257-20648-8 - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
: Mehr Prügel als Flügel. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, TB ISBN 3-518-39183-6
Secondary literature (selection)
- Review of Größerer Versuch über den Schmutz by Wolfgang HildesheimerWolfgang HildesheimerWolfgang Hildesheimer was a German author who incorporated the Theatre of the Absurd. He originally trained as an artist, before turning to writing.-Biography:...
published in Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer 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:...
, issue 1, 1969 page 96 under the headline Sauber ist nicht Schön