- KIRSCH, Sarah
- Sarah Kirsch, born in
1935, is perhaps the most important poetry writer of her generation
in Germany. In the wake of the protests about Wolf Biermann's enforced
exile, she left the GDR for West Berlin. She is a prolific writer
with about two dozen book publications, and she has been awarded
many literary prizes, including the Georg-Büchner Prize 1996
and the Huchel Prize 1993. Although there are affinities to other
poets, such as Peter Huchel and Ingeborg Bachmann, Kirsch's poems
on love and nature are innovative center on the precarious balance
between humankind and nature, between trust and melancholy. Kirsch
confronts the threat to humane life with a defiant "however": She
does so in one of her most masterful collections of poems, Katzenleben
, recently published as Catlives by the Texas Tech University
Press in an outstanding translation by Marina Roscher and Charles
Fishman. The tone of her poetry, however, also encompasses humor,
as is proven by some of the poems from her most recent publication,
Erlkönigs Tochter [1993; Elf-King's Daughter].
Freie Verse und andere Gedichte (Free Verses and other Poems
) from Erlkönigs Tochter: Vol. 1, No. 2
Der frühe Winter (Early Winter) from Bodenlos. Gedichte
(Munich [formerly Stuttgart]: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1996):
Vol. 3, No. 2
Espresso und andere Gedichte (Espresso and other poems)
from Bodenlos: Gedichte (Munich [formerly Stuttgart]: Deutsche
Verlags-Anstalt, 1996): Vol. 6, No. 2/3
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