Michael Hofmann
Encyclopedia
Michael Hofmann is a German-born poet who writes in English and a translator
of texts from German.
. Hofmann's family first moved to Bristol
in 1961, and later to Edinburgh
. He was educated at Winchester College
and then studied English Literature
and Classics
at the University of Oxford
. In 1979 he received a BA and in 1984 an MA from the University of Cambridge
. In 1983 he started working as a freelance
writer, translator, and literary critic
. Hofmann has held a visiting professorship at the University of Michigan
and currently teaches poetry
workshop
s at the University of Florida
. He splits his time between London and Gainesville
.
In 2008, Hofmann is Poet-in-Residence in the state of Queensland in Australia.
in 1984 for Nights in the Iron Hotel and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
in 1988 for Acrimony. The same year, he also received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Patrick Süskind
's The Double-Bass. In 1993 he received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize again for his translation of Wolfgang Koeppen
's Death in Rome.
Hofmann was awarded the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
in 1995 for the translation of his father's novel The Film Explainer, and Michael was nominated again in 2003 for his translation of Peter Stephan Jungk's The Snowflake Constant. In 1997 he received the Arts Council Writer's Award for his collection of poems Approximately Nowhere, and the following year he received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his translation of Herta Müller
's novel The Land of Green Plums
.
In 1999 Hofmann was awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize
for his translation of Joseph Roth
's The String of Pearls. In 2000 Hofmann was selected as the recipient of the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
for his translation of Joseph Roth
's novel Rebellion (Die Rebellion). In 2003 he received another Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of his father's Luck, and in 2004 he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
for his translation of Ernst Jünger
's Storm of Steel
. In 2005 Hofmann received his fourth Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Gerd Ledig's The Stalin Organ. Hofmann served as a judge for the Griffin Poetry Prize
in 2002, and in 2006 Hofmann made the Griffin's international shortlist for his translation of Durs Grünbein
's Ashes for Breakfast.
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 texts from German.
Biography
Michael Hofmann is the son of the German novelist Gert HofmannGert Hofmann
Gert Hofmann was a German writer and professor of German literature. Hofmann was born in Limbach, Saxony and died in Erding ....
. Hofmann's family first moved to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in 1961, and later to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. He was educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and then studied 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....
and Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. In 1979 he received a BA and in 1984 an MA from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. In 1983 he started working as a freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
writer, translator, and literary critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
. Hofmann has held a visiting professorship at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and currently teaches poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. He splits his time between London and Gainesville
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
.
In 2008, Hofmann is Poet-in-Residence in the state of Queensland in Australia.
Honors
Hofmann received the Cholmondeley AwardCholmondeley Award
The Cholmondeley Award is an annual award for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966...
in 1984 for Nights in the Iron Hotel and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize is a British literary prize established in 1963 in tribute to Geoffrey Faber, founder and first Chairman publisher Faber & Faber...
in 1988 for Acrimony. The same year, he also received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Patrick Süskind
Patrick Süskind
Patrick 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...
's The Double-Bass. In 1993 he received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize again for his translation of Wolfgang Koeppen
Wolfgang Koeppen
Wolfgang Arthur Reinhold Koeppen is one of the best known German authors of the post-war period.-Life:Koeppen was born out of wedlock in Greifswald to a seamstress. His father never accepted the fatherhood formally...
's Death in Rome.
Hofmann was awarded the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize was inaugurated by British newspaper The Independent to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched in 1990 and ran for five years before falling into abeyance. It was revived in 2001 with the financial support...
in 1995 for the translation of his father's novel The Film Explainer, and Michael was nominated again in 2003 for his translation of Peter Stephan Jungk's The Snowflake Constant. In 1997 he received the Arts Council Writer's Award for his collection of poems Approximately Nowhere, and the following year he received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his translation of Herta Müller
Herta Müller
Herta Müller is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet and essayist noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceauşescu regime which she experienced herself...
's novel The Land of Green Plums
The Land of Green Plums
The Land of Green Plums is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Herta Müller, published in 1994 by Rowohlt Verlag. Perhaps Müller's best-known work, the story portrays four young people living in a totalitarian police state under the Soviet-imposed communist dictatorship in Romania, ending with...
.
In 1999 Hofmann was awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize
PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize
The PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize is an annual award given to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been presented annually by PEN American Center and the Book of the Month Club since 1963....
for his translation of Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth, born Moses Joseph Roth , was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his novel of Jewish life, Job as well as the seminal essay 'Juden auf Wanderschaft' translated in...
's The String of Pearls. In 2000 Hofmann was selected as the recipient of the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
Helen 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 translation of Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth, born Moses Joseph Roth , was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his novel of Jewish life, Job as well as the seminal essay 'Juden auf Wanderschaft' translated in...
's novel Rebellion (Die Rebellion). In 2003 he received another Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of his father's Luck, and in 2004 he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is an annual literary prize for any book-length translation into English from any other living European language...
for his translation of Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger was a German writer. In addition to his novels and diaries, he is well known for Storm of Steel, an account of his experience during World War I. Some say he was one of Germany's greatest modern writers and a hero of the conservative revolutionary movement following World War I...
's Storm of Steel
Storm of Steel
Storm of Steel is the memoir of German officer Ernst Jünger's experiences on the Western Front during the First World War. It was originally printed privately in 1920, making it one of the first personal accounts to be published. The book is a graphic account of trench warfare...
. In 2005 Hofmann received his fourth Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Gerd Ledig's The Stalin Organ. Hofmann served as a judge for the Griffin Poetry Prize
Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. The awards go to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language....
in 2002, and in 2006 Hofmann made the Griffin's international shortlist for his translation of Durs Grünbein
Durs Grünbein
Durs Grünbein is a German poet, living in Berlin since 1985.Grünbein is hailed as the most significant and successful poet to emerge from the former East Germany, and his work has been awarded many major German literary prizes, including the highest, the Georg-Büchner-Preis, which he won in 1995...
's Ashes for Breakfast.
Author