- STRAUß, Botho
- Botho Strauß is a major mover on the German literary scene, although he lives the life of a recluse as far as media events are concerned. His plays are controversial, yet internationally successful: his roughly 20 theater plays have been performed in 30 countries. His prose writings belong to the avant-garde as well, especially Der junge Mann [1984, The Young Man], which some consider to be one of the few postmodern novels in German. In his recent prose writing, Strauß has become even more essayistic, such as in Wohnen.Dämmern.Lügen (Living.Dozing.TellingLies). He also writes "genuine" essays, such as "Anschwellender Bockgesang" 'Goat Song, Swelling up], which was printed in Der Spiegel (Number 6, 1993) and caused quite a stir due to its political ambiguity. Some of Strauß' essary are collected in Der Aufstand gegen die sekundäre Welt (1999, Rebellion against the Secondary World). Das Gleichgewicht, which premiered in Salzburg in July 1993, can be read as a further commentary on social conditions in a fast-changing world and on how reactions to these conditions differ, as exemplified by the difference in opinion between father and son, Christoph and Markus Groth. Strauß' interest in the mythological also shows in the excerpt from the novel, Die Nacht mit Alice, als Julia ums Haus schlich.
Das Gleichgewicht (The Balance): Vol. 1, No. 1
Gestern auf dem Berg Randa (Yesterday on Randa Mountain) from Wohnen. Dämmern. Lügen. (Munich: Hanser Verlag, 1994): Vol. 2, No. 1
Die Nacht mit Alice, als Julia ums Haus schlich (The Night with Alice when Julia Crept around the House) from Die Nacht mit Alice, als Julia ums Haus schlich (Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2003): Vol. 8, No. 1
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