- WALSER, Martin
- Martin Walser was born
in Wasserburg in 1927 and has lived in Überlingen, in the same
region of Lake Constance, since 1957, the year the novel that established
his literary fame, Ehen in Philippsburg (Marriages in Philippsburg),
was published. He has more than fifty books, as well as a twelve-volume
edition of his collected works, to his name and has won many awards,
including the 1981 Büchner Prize and the 1998 Friedenspreis
des deutschen Buchhandels. From the start of his career, Walser
has been a critic of middle-class society, which he typically portrays
as a place without humanity where those who are successful have
to hide behind the façade of their success because their
lives are really devoid of meaning. He has been similarly outspoken
in his contribution to public debates, be it against the Vietnam
War or, more recently, for a new understanding of what "being
German" may mean. Walser's line of reasoning about the latter
subject takes center stage in his controversial Friedenspreis
speech, the translation of which is included in Vol. 7, No. 2/3.
Ohne einander (Without Another ): Vol. 1, No. 1
Experiences while Drafting a Sunday Speech from Aus dem Wortschatz
unserer Kämpfe: Prosa, Aufsätze, Gedichte (Frankfurt
am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002): Vol 7, No. 2/3
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