Today one of Germany’s most important post-war authors died at the age of 82 in Berlin: Christa Wolf.
Christa Wolf was awarded with a bunch of big literature awards e.g. the Georg Büchner award and the Thomas Mann award. She even received the Georg Büchner lifetime achievement award in 2002. Her writing was profound and critical and she animated many people to reflect on topics like the DDR and Chernobyl.
R.I.P. Ruhe in Frieden! :(
(pic via
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“Die Leiden des jungen Werther” (= The Sorrows of Young Werther) is probably one of the most famous works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1774. The book is a collection of letters which the protagonist Werther writes to his friend Wilhelm. Werther, a very emotional and sensitive young man, falls deeply in love with Lotte. But Lotte is already engaged to Albert and Werther suffers from bad heartache….
A very interesting fact about Werther’s story is that it had a massive impact on the culture at that time. People identified so much with Werther that they started to dress like him. It even led to some examples of copycat suicide! This phenomenon is known as “das Werther-Fieber” (the Werther fever).
The reason I’m posting this is, that I read the book again today. And I also found this free audio book in German, which you can listen to online. Just to warn you - it’s difficult to understand, because of the old poetic language. However, maybe some of you would like to give it a shot. CLICK
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Last year, the German author Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize for literature for her novel “Atemschaukel” (English title: Everything I possess I carry with me). It’s a really moving story about the persecution of ethnic Germans in Romania by Stalin’s regime and is inspired by real events and a variety of people who went through similar pain.
The German title literally translates to “breath swing”.
der Atem = breath
die Schaukel = swing
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As you’ve probably already heard, JD Salinger died at the age of 91 yesterday.
In 9th grade, I had to read “The Catcher in the Rye” (Der Fänger im Roggen) in German class. In school, I wasn’t really a big fan of reading books in class. But I remember that I really enjoyed the story of Holden Caulfield.
In the picture you can see the exact same book I read in school over 15 years ago. It’s still on my book shelf. :)
What’s your JD Salinger / Catcher in the Rye story?
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