John E. Woods
Encyclopedia
John E. Woods is a translator who specializes in translating German literature, since about 1978. His work includes much of the fictional prose of Arno Schmidt
and the works of contemporary authors such as Ingo Schulze
and Christoph Ransmayr
. He also translated all the major novels of Thomas Mann
(a feat comparable, in simple page count, to a wholly new translation of Proust), as well as works by many other writers. Woods lives in Berlin
.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Thomas Mann
Christoph Ransmayr
Arno Schmidt
Patrick Süskind
for his translations of Thomas Mann
's The Magic Mountain
and Arno Schmidt
's Nobodaddy's Children in 1996; as well as the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for the translation of Christoph Ransmayr
's The Last World in 1991. He was awarded the Ungar German Translation Award in 1995, and most recently the prestigious Goethe-Medaille from the Goethe Institute in 2008.
Arno Schmidt
Arno Schmidt was a German author and translator.-Biography:Born in Hamburg, son of a police constable, Schmidt moved with his widowed mother to Lauban and attended the secondary school in Görlitz. He then worked as a clerk in a textile company in Greiffenberg...
and the works of contemporary authors such as Ingo Schulze
Ingo Schulze
Ingo Schulze is a German writer born in Dresden in former East Germany. He studied classical philology at the University of Jena for five years, and, until the German reunification, was an assistant director at the State Theatre in Altenburg 45 km south of Leipzig for two years...
and Christoph Ransmayr
Christoph Ransmayr
Christoph Ransmayr is an Austrian writer.- Life :Born in Wels, Upper Austria Ransmayr grew up in Roitham near Gmunden and the Traunsee. From 1972 to 1978 he studied philosophy and ethnology in Vienna...
. He also translated all the major novels of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
(a feat comparable, in simple page count, to a wholly new translation of Proust), as well as works by many other writers. Woods lives 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...
.
Friedrich DürrenmattFriedrich DürrenmattFriedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
- A Monster Lecture on Justice and Law
- The Execution of Justice
Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
- Joseph und seine Brüder: Joseph and His BrothersJoseph and His BrothersJoseph and His Brothers is a four-part novel by Thomas Mann, written over the course of 16 years. Mann retells the familiar stories of Genesis, from Jacob to Joseph , setting it in the historical context of the Amarna Period...
- Der Zauberberg: Magic Mountain
- Doktor Faustus: Doctor FaustusDoktor FaustusDoctor Faustus is a German novel written by Thomas Mann, begun in 1943 and published in 1947 as Doktor Faustus. Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde Doctor Faustus (in German, Doktor Faustus) is a German novel written by Thomas Mann, begun in 1943 and...
- Buddenbrooks: BuddenbrooksBuddenbrooksBuddenbrooks was Thomas Mann's first novel, published in 1901 when he was twenty-six years old. The publication of the 2nd edition in 1903 confirmed that Buddenbrooks was a major literary success in Germany....
Christoph RansmayrChristoph RansmayrChristoph Ransmayr is an Austrian writer.- Life :Born in Wels, Upper Austria Ransmayr grew up in Roitham near Gmunden and the Traunsee. From 1972 to 1978 he studied philosophy and ethnology in Vienna...
- Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis: The Terrors of Ice and Darkness
- Die letzte Welt: The Last World
- Morbus Kitahara: The Dog King
Arno SchmidtArno SchmidtArno Schmidt was a German author and translator.-Biography:Born in Hamburg, son of a police constable, Schmidt moved with his widowed mother to Lauban and attended the secondary school in Görlitz. He then worked as a clerk in a textile company in Greiffenberg...
- Nobodaddys Kinder: Nobodaddy's Children
- Das steinerne Herz: The Stony Heart
- Die Gelehrtenrepulik: The Egghead Republic
- Kaff auch Mare Crisium: Boondocks/Moondocks
- Zettel's Traum: Bottom's Dream (forthcoming)
- Die Schule der Atheisten: School for Atheists
- Abend mit Goldrand: Evening Edged in Gold (winner of the American Book Award and the PEN Prize for translation in 1981)
Patrick SüskindPatrick SüskindPatrick Süskind is a German writer and screenwriter.- Life and work :The public knows little about Patrick Süskind. He has withdrawn from the literary scene in Germany and never grants interviews or allows photos. He was born in Ambach am Starnberger See, near Munich in Germany...
- Perfume (winner of the PEN Prize for translation in 1987)
- The PigeonThe PigeonThe Pigeon is a novella by Patrick Süskind about the fictional character Jonathan Noel, a solitary Parisian bank security guard who undergoes an existential crisis when a pigeon roosts in front of his one-room apartment's door, prohibiting him entrance to his private sanctuary...
Awards
In addition to his awards for the translations of Perfume in 1987, and Evening Edged in Gold in 1981, Woods was also awarded the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's PrizeHelen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize is an annual literary prize honoring an outstanding literary translation from German into English published in the USA the previous year. The translator of the winning translation receives $10,000.00 and a stay at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin...
for his translations of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
's The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of 20th century German literature....
and Arno Schmidt
Arno Schmidt
Arno Schmidt was a German author and translator.-Biography:Born in Hamburg, son of a police constable, Schmidt moved with his widowed mother to Lauban and attended the secondary school in Görlitz. He then worked as a clerk in a textile company in Greiffenberg...
's Nobodaddy's Children in 1996; as well as the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for the translation of Christoph Ransmayr
Christoph Ransmayr
Christoph Ransmayr is an Austrian writer.- Life :Born in Wels, Upper Austria Ransmayr grew up in Roitham near Gmunden and the Traunsee. From 1972 to 1978 he studied philosophy and ethnology in Vienna...
's The Last World in 1991. He was awarded the Ungar German Translation Award in 1995, and most recently the prestigious Goethe-Medaille from the Goethe Institute in 2008.