Gedichte 1950-1985

by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Genres: Poetry

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

See also:
Cyrillic: Ханс Магнус Енценсбергер

Hans Magnus Enzensberger was a German author, poet, translator and editor. He had also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr.

Enzensberger was regarded as one of the literary founding figures of the Federal Republic of Germany and wrote more than 70 books. He was one of the leading authors in the Group 47, and influenced the 1968 West German student movement. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize and the Pour Le Mérite, among many others.

He wrote in a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems. 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 ventured into theatre, film, opera, radio drama, reportage and translation. He wrote novels and several books for children (including The Number Devil, an exploration of mathematics) and was co-author of a book for German as a foreign language, (Die Suche). He often wrote his poems and letters in lower case.

Enzensberger also invented and collaborated in the construction of a machine which automatically composes poems (Landsberger Poesieautomat). This was used during the 2006 Football World Cup to commentate on games.

Tumult, written in 2014, is an autobiographical reflection of his 1960s as a left-wing sympathizer in the Soviet Union and Cuba.

Enzensberger translated Adam Zagajewski, Lars Gustafsson, Pablo Neruda, W. H. Auden and César Vallejo. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Reviews

[Steffi]

Ach ja, weil gerade woanders ein Buch von Enzensberger genannt wurde: Was habe ich in der Schule unter seinen Gedichten und ihren Interepretationen gelitten. Heute habe ich das Gefühl, ich müsste ihnen noch eine Chance geben. Daher auch (vorerst) keine Bewertung.

[P.T. Borden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enzensberger is someone my husband introduced me to. He became famous during the 1960's when my husband was at a Gymnasium in Germany. It was like the poets of the 1930's, (Gottfried Benn and others)someone who continued the great German poetic tradition. I had not grown up with poetry, because poetry in my school was not something read. Only during my time in Germany did I come into contact with it. It is like anything Enzensberger writes worthwhile to read. Outstanding!

[Ulrike Bungert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gedichte, die ich nicht verstehe
Gedicht, das ich nicht gut finde,
Mist.
Gut finden und verstehen
Gedichte sind nicht schön
Die Schule ist nicht schön
Das Gedicht und die Schule
Schulpflicht.
Kacke.

Und dann die Deutscharbeit
Interpretieren Sie
Enzensberger toll
15 Punkte.
Supi.