Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Enzensberger was born in 1929 in a small town in Bavaria and is the eldest of four boys.[1] He is part of the last generation of intellectuals whose writing was shaped by first-hand experience of the Third Reich.[2] The Enzensberger family moved to Nuremberg, the ceremonial birthplace of National Socialism, in 1931.[1] Julius Streicher, the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer, was their next-door neighbour. Hans Magnus joined the Hitler Youth in his teens, but was expelled soon afterwards. "I have always been incapable of being a good comrade. I can't stay in line. It's not in my character. It may be a defect, but I can't help it."[1]

Enzensberger studied literature and philosophy at the universities of Erlangen, Freiburg and Hamburg, and at the Sorbonne in Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1955 for a thesis about Clemens Brentano's poetry.[3] Until 1957 he worked as a radio editor in Stuttgart. He participated in several gatherings of Group 47. Between 1965 and 1975 he lived briefly in the US and Cuba[4] and edited the magazine Das Kursbuch.[5] Since 1985 he has been the editor of the prestigious book series Die Andere Bibliothek, published in Frankfurt, and now containing almost 250 titles.[6] Together with Gaston Salvatore, Enzensberger was the founder of the monthly TransAtlantik.[7] His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages.[3]

Enzensberger is the older brother of the author Christian Enzensberger.[8]

He lives in Munich.

Enzensberger has a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems.[9] For example, the poem "Middle Class Blues" consists of various typicalities of middle class life, with the phrase "we can't complain" repeated several times, and concludes with "what are we waiting for?". Many of his poems also feature themes of civil unrest over economic and class based issues. Though primarily a poet and essayist, he also makes excursions into theater, film, opera, radio drama, reportage, translation. He has written novels and several books for children (including The Number Devil, an exploration of mathematics) and is co-author of a book for German as a foreign language (Die Suche). He also invented and collaborated in the construction of a machine which automatically composes poems. It was used during the 2006 Football World Cup to commentate on games.[10][11]

With Irene Dische he wrote the libretto for Aulis Sallinen's fifth opera The Palace.[12]

In 2009, Enzensberger received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry,[3] which also awards the annual Griffin Poetry Prize.

• 1963 Georg Büchner Prize
• 1980 Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings
• 1985 Heinrich-Böll-Preis
• 1993 Erich-Maria-Remarque-Friedenspreis; see also Erich Maria Remarque
• 1998 Heinrich Heine Prize of Düsseldorf
• 2002 Prince of Asturias Communications and Humanities award
• 2009 Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award
• 2009 Sonningprisen - awarded for "commendable work for the benefit of European culture"
• 2012 Enzensberger is set to receive an honorary degree from Bard College in New York
• 2017 Poetry and People International Poetry Prize

• Verteidigung der Wölfe, Poems, 1957
• Viele schöne Kinderreime, 777 poems for children, 1962
• Einzelheiten, Essays, 1962
• Politik und Verbrechen, Essays, 1964
• Deutschland, Deutschland unter anderem, political commentary, 1967
• Das Verhör von Habana, Prose, 1970
• Constituents of a Theory of the Media, 1970
• Der kurze Sommer der Anarchie. Buenaventura Durrutis Leben und Tod, Prose, 1972
• Gespräche mit Marx und Engels, 1970
• Palaver. Politische Überlegungen, Essays, 1974
• Mausoleum. 37 Balladen aus der Geschichte des Fortschritts, Poems, 1975
• Polit. Brosamen, Essays, 1982
• Ach, Europa! Wahrnehmungen aus sieben Ländern, Prose, 1987
• Mittelmass und Wahn, Essays, 1989
• Zukunftsmusik, Poems, 1991
• Die Tochter der Luft, Drama, 1992
• Die Große Wanderung, Essays, 1992
• Zickzack, Essays, 1997
• Der Zahlenteufel, Novel, 1997
• Wo warst du, Robert?, Novel, 1998
• Leichter als Luft: Moralische Gedichte, Poems, 1999
• Schreckens Maenner: Versuch ueber den radikalen Verlierer (5th ed.), Essay, 2006
• Einzelheiten I & II, Essays, 2006
• Gedichte 1950-2005, Poems, 2006
• Im Irrgarten der Intelligenz / Ein Idiotenführer', Essay, 2007
• Hammerstein oder der Eigensinn, Biography, 2008

• Martin Fritsche: Hans Magnus Enzensbergers produktionsorientierte Moral. Konstanten in der Ästhetik eines Widersachers der Gleichheit. Dissertation, Technische Universität Berlin; Peter Lang, Bern u. a. 1997, 264 S., gebunden, ISBN 3-906757-91-9. (Zur politischen Haltung, politischen Polemik und Provokation im Werk Enzensbergers.)
• Rommerskirchen, Theo: Hans Magnus Enzensberger. In: viva signatur si! Remagen-Rolandseck 2005, ISBN 3-926943-85-8.
• Barbey, Rainer: Unheimliche Fortschritte. Natur, Technik und Mechanisierung im Werk von Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Dissertation, Universität Regensburg; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, 248 S., gebunden, ISBN 978-3-89971-345-9, Inhaltsverzeichnis (PDF), Einleitung (PDF).
• Francisco Adolfo Aristizábal Cuervo: Der Dichter als Übersetzer: Auf Spurensuche: Hans Magnus Enzensbergers Übersetzungsmethode(n). Tectum Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8288-9697-0.
• Park, Hyun Jeong: „Das Ende der Welt ist vielleicht nur ein Provisorium“. Ökologisch-postapokalyptisches Denken im lyrischen und essayistischen Werk Hans Magnus Enzensbergers. Diss, Universität München, Aisthesis, Bielefeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-89528-747-3.
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger und die Ideengeschichte der Bundesrepublik, mit einem Essay von Lars Gustafsson. Universitätsverlag Winter, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8253-5758-0
• Clayton, Alan J.: Writing with the Words of Others: Essays on the Poetry of Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2010, 272 S., ISBN 978-3-8260-4308-6.
• Text+Kritik: Hans Magnus Enzensberger, hrsg. von Heinz Ludwig Arnold, Edition Text+Kritik, dritte Auflage, ISBN 978-3-86916-083-2
• Marmulla, Henning: Enzensbergers Kursbuch. Eine Zeitschrift um 68. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-88221-624-0.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

• In conversation with Charles Simic December 11, 2002
• The radical loser: English translation of an article originally appearing in Der Spiegel on November 7, 2005.
• Enzensberger at PEN American Center Participated in the 2006 PEN World Voices Conference in NYC
• Poesieautomat (Poetry-Machine) realized by Christian Bauer, 2006
• Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award profile (including audio and video of tribute and acceptance speech)
• Interview: A life in writing Talking with Enzensberger at The Guardian; appeared online May 15, 2010
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger at perlentaucher.de – das Kulturmagazin (in German)
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger at Library of Congress Authorities, with 149 catalogue records
• Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt, and Andreas Thalmayr (pseudonyms) at LC Authorities