- KUNERT, Günter
- Günter Kunert,
born in Berlin in 1929, is a versatile and prolific writer. He went
to Art Academy; however, he started publishing in 1950 and was encouraged
in his literary endeavors by Bertolt Brecht. He emerged as a major
poetic voice in East German poetry during the 1970s—ironically
at a time when he was forced to leave the German Democratic Republic
because of his critical attitude toward the SED. In the fall of
1979, he settled in Itzehoe, West Germany. Kunert's poetic vision
has been a bleak one of an apocalypse, which he saw looming—in
contrast to official East German doctrine—even over socialism.
Still, his texts are typically not only an expression of that bleak
vision but often of a residual hope, the "kleine Aber,"
or "little however." He is a prolific writer, who has
also published prose: For instance, Im Namen der Hüte
[1967; In the Name of the Hats], his first novel, is a wonderfully
magical-realistic story about growing up.
Berlin Revival (Berlin Redivivus ) from Baum. Stein. Beton.:
Vol. 1, No. 3
Verwandlung und andere Gedichte (Transformation and other poems)
from Nacht Vorstellung (Munich and Vienna: Hanser Verlag,
1999): Vol. 6, No. 2/3
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