Contemporary German Literature
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German literature () comprises those
literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
texts written in the
German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...
. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the
German diaspora The German diaspora consists of German people and their descendants who live outside of Germany. The term is used in particular to refer to the aspects of migration of German speakers from central Europe to different countries around the world. ...
. German literature of the modern period is mostly in
Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...
, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects (e.g.
Alemannic Alemannic (''Alamannic'') or Alamanni may refer to: * Alemannic German, a dialect family in the Upper German branch of the German languages and its speakers * Alemanni, a confederation of Suebian Germanic tribes in the Roman period * Alamanni (surna ...
). Medieval German literature is literature written in Germany, stretching from the Carolingian dynasty; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the Reformation (1517) being the last possible cut-off point. The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century; the most famous works are the '' Hildebrandslied'' and a heroic epic known as the '' Heliand''. Middle High German starts in the 12th century; the key works include '' The Ring'' (ca. 1410) and the poems of Oswald von Wolkenstein and Johannes von Tepl. The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Modern literature in German begins with the authors of the Enlightenment (such as
Herder A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazing. ...
). The Sensibility movement of the 1750s–1770s ended with Goethe's best-selling '' The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (1774). The Sturm und Drang and Weimar Classicism movements were led by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
. German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
refers to the literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (
Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the
European revolutions The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
. Under the Nazi regime, some authors went into exile (''Exilliteratur'') and others submitted to censorship ("internal emigration", ''Innere Emigration''). The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German language authors fourteen times (as of 2020), or the second most often, tying with French language authors, after English language authors (with 32 laureates) with winners including Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse,
Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...
, and Peter Handke.


Periodization

Periodization is not an exact science but the following list contains movements or time periods typically used in discussing German literature. It seems worth noting that the periods of medieval German literature span two or three centuries, those of early modern German literature span one century, and those of modern German literature each span one or two decades. The closer one nears the present, the more debated the periodizations become. * Medieval German literature ** Old High German literature (750–1050) ** Middle High German literature (1050–1350) ** Late medieval / Renaissance (1350–1500) * Early Modern German literature (see Early Modern literature) ** Humanism and Protestant Reformation (1500–1650) **
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
(1600–1720) **
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
(1680–1789) * Modern German literature ** 18th- and 19th-century German literature *** ''Empfindsamkeit'' / Sensibility (1750s–1770s) *** ''Sturm und Drang'' / Storm and Stress (1760s–1780s) *** German Classicism (1729–1832) **** Weimar Classicism (1788–1805) or (1788–1832), depending on Schiller's (1805) or Goethe's (1832) death *** German Romanticism (1790s–1880s) ***
Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
(1815–1848) *** Young Germany (1830–1850) *** Poetic
Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
(1848–1890) *** Naturalism (1880–1900) ** 20th-century German literature *** 1900–1933 **** Fin de siècle (c. 1900) **** Symbolism ****
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
(1910–1920) **** Dada (1914–1924) **** New Objectivity (''Neue Sachlichkeit'') *** Well Known Writers of the 20th Century *** 1933–1945 **** National Socialist literature **** Exile literature *** 1945–1989 **** By country ***** Federal Republic of Germany ***** German Democratic Republic ***** Austria ***** Switzerland ***** Other **** By thematic or group ***** Post-war literature (1945–1967) *****
Group 47 Gruppe 47 (Group 47) was a group of participants in German writers' meetings, invited by Hans Werner Richter between 1947 and 1967. The meetings served the dual goals of literary criticism as well as the promotion of young, unknown authors. In a de ...
*****
Holocaust literature The Holocaust has been a prominent subject of art and literature throughout the second half of the twentieth century. There are a wide range of ways–including dance, film, literature, music, and television–in which the Holocaust has been repre ...
** Contemporary German literature (1989–)


Middle Ages

Medieval German literature refers to literature written in Germany, stretching from the Carolingian dynasty; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the Reformation (1517) being the last possible cut-off point.


Old High German

The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century, though the boundary to Early Middle High German (second half of the 11th century) is not clear-cut. The most famous work in OHG is the '' Hildebrandslied'', a short piece of Germanic alliterative heroic verse which besides the ''
Muspilli ''Muspilli'' is an Old High German poem known in incomplete form (103 lines) from a ninth-century Bavarian manuscript. Its subject is the fate of the soul immediately after death and at the Last Judgment. Many aspects of the interpretation of the ...
'' is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Another important work, in the northern dialect of Old Saxon, is a life of Christ in the style of a heroic epic known as the '' Heliand''.


Middle High German

Middle High German proper runs from the beginning of the 12th century, and in the second half of the 12th century, there was a sudden intensification of activity, leading to a 60-year "golden age" of medieval German literature referred to as the ''mittelhochdeutsche Blütezeit'' (1170–1230). This was the period of the blossoming of MHG lyric poetry, particularly '' Minnesang'' (the German variety of the originally French tradition of
courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...
). One of the most important of these poets was Walther von der Vogelweide. The same sixty years saw the composition of the most important courtly romances. These are written in rhyming couplets, and again draw on French models such as
Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including ''E ...
, many of them relating Arthurian material, for example, '' Parzival'' by Wolfram von Eschenbach. The third literary movement of these years was a new revamping of the heroic tradition, in which the ancient Germanic oral tradition can still be discerned, but tamed and Christianized and adapted for the court. These high medieval
heroic epic An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
s are written in rhymed strophes, not the alliterative verse of Germanic prehistory (for example, the '' Nibelungenlied''). The Middle High German period is conventionally taken to end in 1350, while the
Early New High German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650. The term is the standard translation of the German (Fnhd., Frnhd.), introduce ...
is taken to begin with the
German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among Germany, German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and ...
, after the invention of movable type in the mid-15th century. Therefore, the literature of the late 14th and the early 15th century falls, as it were, in the cracks between Middle and New High German, and can be classified as either. Works of this transitional period include '' The Ring'' (c. 1410), the poems of Oswald von Wolkenstein and Johannes von Tepl, the German versions of '' Pontus and Sidonia'', and arguably the works of
Hans Folz Hans Folz ( 1437 – January 1513) was a German author of the late medieval or early Renaissance period. Folz was born in Worms. He was made a citizen of the city of Nuremberg, Germany in 1459 and master barber of the city in 1486. Folz was a refo ...
and
Sebastian Brant Sebastian Brant (also Brandt) (1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his satire '' Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools''). Biography Brant was born in Strasbourg to an innkeeper but eventually enter ...
('' Ship of Fools'', 1494), among others. The ''Volksbuch'' (
chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...
) tradition which would flourish in the 16th century also finds its origin in the second half of the 15th century.


Early Modern period


German Renaissance and Reformation

*
Sebastian Brant Sebastian Brant (also Brandt) (1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his satire '' Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools''). Biography Brant was born in Strasbourg to an innkeeper but eventually enter ...
(1457–1521) * Thomas Murner (1475–1537) * Martin Luther (1483–1546) *
Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...
(1497–1560) *
Sebastian Franck Sebastian Franck (20 January 1499 Donauwörth, Swabia – c. 1543 Basel, Switzerland) was a 16th-century German freethinker, humanist, and radical reformer. Biography Franck was born in 1499 in Donauwörth, Swabia. Because of this he styled hims ...
(1500–1543)


Baroque period

The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of the Thirty Years' War, in poetry and prose.
Grimmelshausen Grimmelshausen is a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe afte ...
's adventures of the young and naïve Simplicissimus, in the eponymous book '' Simplicius Simplicissimus'', became the most famous novel of the Baroque period. Martin Opitz established rules for the "purity" of language, style, verse and rhyme. Andreas Gryphius and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein wrote German language tragedies, or ''Trauerspiele'', often on Classical themes and frequently quite violent. Erotic, religious and
occasional poetry Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. Term As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work' ...
appeared in both German and Latin. Sibylle Ursula von Braunschweig-Lüneburg wrote part of a novel, ''Die Durchlauchtige Syrerin Aramena'' (''Aramena, the noble Syrian lady''), which when complete would be the most famous courtly novel in German Baroque literature; it was finished by her brother Anton Ulrich and edited by
Sigmund von Birken Sigmund von Birken (25 April 1626 – 12 June 1681) was a German poet of the Baroque. He was born in Wildstein, near Eger, and died in Nuremberg, aged 55. His pupil, Sibylle Ursula von Braunschweig-Lüneburg wrote part of a novel, ''Die Durchlau ...
.


18th century


The Enlightenment


Sensibility

''Empfindsamkeit'' / Sensibility (1750s–1770s) Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803), Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715–1769),
Sophie de La Roche Marie Sophie von La Roche (née Gutermann von Gutershofen; 6 December 1730 – 18 February 1807) was a German novelist. She is considered the first financially independent female professional writer in Germany. Biography Sophie von La Roche was ...
(1730–1807). The period culminates and ends in Goethe's best-selling '' Die Leiden des jungen Werther'' (1774).


Sturm und Drang

''Sturm und Drang'' (the conventional translation is "Storm and Stress"; a more literal translation, however, might be ''storm and urge'', ''storm and longing'', or ''storm and impulse'') is the name of a movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual
subjectivity Subjectivity in a philosophical context has to do with a lack of objective reality. Subjectivity has been given various and ambiguous definitions by differing sources as it is not often the focal point of philosophical discourse.Bykova, Marina F ...
and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated
aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
movements. The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann is considered to be the ideologue of ''Sturm und Drang'', and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a notable proponent of the movement, though he and
Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
ended their period of association with it, initiating what would become Weimar Classicism.


19th century


German Classicism

Weimar Classicism (
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
“''Weimarer Klassik''” and “''Weimarer Klassizismus''”) is a
cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
and
literary movement Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...
of Europe, and its central ideas were originally propounded by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...
during the period 1786 to 1805.


Romanticism

German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. German Romanticism developed relatively late compared to its English counterpart, coinciding in its early years with the movement known as
German Classicism Weimar Classicism (german: Weimarer Klassik) was a German literary and cultural movement, whose practitioners established a new humanism from the synthesis of ideas from Romanticism, Classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. It was named after t ...
or Weimar Classicism, which it opposed. In contrast to the seriousness of English Romanticism, the German variety is notable for valuing humor and wit as well as beauty. The early German romantics tried to create a new synthesis of art, philosophy, and science, looking to the Middle Ages as a simpler, more integrated period. As time went on, however, they became increasingly aware of the tenuousness of the unity they were seeking. Later German Romanticism emphasized the tension between the everyday world and the seemingly irrational and supernatural projections of creative genius.
Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
in particular criticized the tendency of the early romantics to look to the medieval past for a model of unity in art and society. *
G.W.F. Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
*
E.T.A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in E ...
* Friedrich Hölderlin * Heinrich von Kleist *
Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure o ...
* Friedrich Schlegel * August Wilhelm Schlegel *
Friedrich Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional P ...
* Ludwig Tieck * Ludwig Uhland *
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
* Joseph von Eichendorff


Biedermeier and Vormärz

Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (
Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the
European revolutions The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
and contrasts with the
Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
era which preceded it. Typical Biedermeier poets are Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Adelbert von Chamisso,
Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by ...
, and Wilhelm Müller, the last three named having well-known musical settings by
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
,
Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Ro ...
and Franz Schubert respectively. Young Germany (''Junges Deutschland'') was a loose group of Vormärz writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth movement (similar to those that had swept France and Ireland and originated in Italy). Its main proponents were
Karl Gutzkow Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century. Life Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most menia ...
, Heinrich Laube,
Theodor Mundt 200px, Theodor Mundt Theodor Mundt (September 19, 1808 – November 30, 1861) was a German critic and novelist. He was a member of the Young Germany group of German writers. Biography Born at Potsdam, Mundt studied philology and philosophy at Ber ...
and Ludolf Wienbarg;
Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
, Ludwig Börne and Georg Büchner were also considered part of the movement. The wider circle included Willibald Alexis, Adolf Glassbrenner and
Gustav Kühne Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: * Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short car ...
.


Realism and Naturalism

Poetic
Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
(1848–1890): Theodor Fontane,
Gustav Freitag Gustav Freytag (; 13 July 1816 – 30 April 1895) was a German novelist and playwright. Life Freytag was born in Kreuzburg (Kluczbork) in Silesia. After attending the school at Oels (Oleśnica), he studied philology at the universities of ...
, Gottfried Keller, Wilhelm Raabe, Adalbert Stifter, Theodor Storm Naturalism (1880–1900): Gerhart Hauptmann


20th century


1900 to 1933

* Fin de siècle (c. 1900) * Weimar literature (1919–1933) * Symbolism *
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
(1910–1920) * Dada (1914–1924) * New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit)


Well known writers of the 20th century

A well-known writer of
German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...
was Franz Kafka. A Kafka novel, '' The Trial'', was ranked #3 on Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century. Kafka's iconic writing style that captures themes of bureaucracy and existentialism resulted in the coining of the term “Kafkaesque.” Kafka's writing allowed a peek into his melancholic life, one where he felt isolated from all human beings, one of his inspirations for writing.


Nazi Germany

*National Socialist literature: see Blut und Boden, Nazi propaganda Under the Nazi regime, some authors went into exile ('' Exilliteratur'') and others submitted to censorship (" inner emigration", ''Innere Emigration'') *''Inner Emigration'': Gottfried Benn,
Werner Bergengruen Werner Bergengruen (September 16, 1892 – September 4, 1964) was a Baltic German novelist and poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and career Bergengruen was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, which at that ti ...
,
Hans Blüher Hans Blüher (17 February 1888 in Freiburg in Schlesien – 4 February 1955 in Berlin) was a German writer and philosopher. He attained prominence as an early member and "first historian" of the Wandervogel movement. He was aided by his taboo br ...
,
Hans Heinrich Ehrler Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...
,
Hans Fallada Hans Fallada (; born Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; 21 July 18935 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include '' Little Man, What Now?'' (1932) and ''Every Man Dies Alone'' ...
, Werner Finck,
Gertrud Fussenegger Gertrud Fussenegger (8 May 1912 – 19 March 2009) was an Austrian writer and a prolific author, especially of historical novels. Many commentators felt that her reputation never entirely escaped from the shadow cast by her enthusiasm, as a youn ...
, Ricarda Huch, Ernst Jünger,
Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...
,
Volker Lachmann Volker may refer to: * Volker (name), including a list of people with the given name or surname * Volker, Kansas City, a historic neighborhood in Kansas City * Volker Boulevard, Kansas City * ''Alien Nations'' (German: ''Die Völker''), a real-time ...
, Oskar Loerke,
Erika Mitterer Erika may refer to: Arts and Entertainment * Megatokyo, Hayasaka Erika (''Megatokyo)'' * Erika (Friends), Erika (''Friends'') * Erika (Pokémon), Erika (''Pokémon'') * Erika (Underworld), Erika (''Underworld'') * Girls und Panzer, Erika Itsumi ...
,
Walter von Molo Walter Ritter/Reichsritter von Molo (14 June 1880, Šternberk, Moravia, Austria-Hungary – 27 October 1958, Hechendorf (now Murnau am Staffelsee, Bavaria, West Germany), was an Austrian writer in the German language. Life Walter von Molo w ...
, Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen,
Richard Riemerschmid Richard Riemerschmid (20 June 1868 – 13 April 1957) was a German architect, painter, designer and city planner from Munich. He was a major figure in ''Jugendstil'', the German form of Art Nouveau, and a founder of architecture in the sty ...
, Reinhold Schneider, Frank Thiess, Carl von Ossietzky,
Ernst Wiechert Ernst Wiechert (18 May 1887 – 24 August 1950) was a German teacher, poet and writer. Biography Wiechert was born in the village of Kleinort, East Prussia, (now Piersławek, Poland). He was one of the most widely read novelists in Germany ...
* in exile: Ernst Bloch,
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
,
Hermann Broch Hermann Broch (; 1 November 1886 – 30 May 1951) was an Austrian writer, best known for two major works of modernist fiction: '' The Sleepwalkers'' (''Die Schlafwandler,'' 1930–32) and ''The Death of Virgil'' (''Der Tod des Vergil,'' 1945). ...
,
Alfred Döblin Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...
,
Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's Ju ...
,
Bruno Frank Bruno Frank (June 13, 1887 – June 20, 1945) was a German author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and humanist. Biography Frank was born in Stuttgart. He studied law and philosophy in Munich, where he later worked as a dramatist and novelist ...
,
A. M. Frey A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of ...
,
Anna Gmeyner Anna Wilhelmine Gmeyner (16 March 1902 – 3 January 1991) was an exiled German and Austrian writer, playwright and screenwriter, who is now best known for her novel '' Manja'' (1939). She also wrote under the names Anna Reiner, and Anna Morduch. ...
,
Oskar Maria Graf Oskar Maria Graf (July 22, 1894 – June 28, 1967) was a German-American writer who wrote several narratives about life in Bavaria, mostly autobiographical. In the beginning, Graf wrote under his real name Oskar Graf. After 1918, his works for ...
, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Eduard Jacob,
Hermann Kesten Hermann Kesten (28 January 1900 – 3 May 1996) was a German novelist and dramatist. He was one of the principal literary figures of the New Objectivity movement in 1920s Germany. The literary prize Hermann Kesten Medal has been given in his hon ...
,
Annette Kolb Annette Kolb (pseudonym of Anna Mathilde Kolb; born February 3, 1870 in Munich; died December 3, 1967 in Munich) was a German author and pacifist. She became active in pacifist causes during World War I and this caused her political difficulti ...
, Siegfried Kracauer,
Emil Ludwig Emil Ludwig (25 January 1881 – 17 September 1948) was a German-Swiss author, known for his biographies and study of historical "greats." Biography Emil Ludwig (originally named Emil Cohn) was born in Breslau, now part of Poland, on 25 Ja ...
, Heinrich Mann,
Klaus Mann Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann, with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship, and Golo ...
, Thomas Mann,
Balder Olden Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was k ...
, Rudolf Olden, Robert Neumann, Erich Maria Remarque,
Ludwig Renn Ludwig Renn (born Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golßenau; 22 April 1889 – 21 July 1979) was a German author. Born a Saxon nobleman, he later became a committed communist and lived in East Berlin.''Oxford Companion to German Literature'', ed. Henr ...
,
Alice Rühle-Gerstel Alice Rühle-Gerstel (24 March 1894 – 24 June 1943) was a German-Jewish writer, feminist, and psychologist. Biography Alice Gerstel attended a girls' boarding school in Dresden, then the lyceum and the German-language teacher-training college ...
, Otto Rühle,
Alice Schwarz-Gardos Alice Schwarz-Gardos (31 August 1916 in Vienna - 14 August 2007 in Tel Aviv) was an Austrian-born Israeli journalist and author. She was noted for her work as an editor for German-language newspapers in Israel, and was editor-in-chief of the daily ...
,
Anna Seghers Anna Seghers (; born ''Anna Reiling,'' 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), is the pseudonym of a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian ...
, B. Traven, Bodo Uhse,
Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and Poetry, poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of ''Th ...
, Arnold Zweig,
Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...
, Joseph Roth.


1945 to 1989

* Post-war literature of West Germany (1945–1967): Heinrich Böll,
Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...
,
Group 47 Gruppe 47 (Group 47) was a group of participants in German writers' meetings, invited by Hans Werner Richter between 1947 and 1967. The meetings served the dual goals of literary criticism as well as the promotion of young, unknown authors. In a de ...
;
Holocaust literature The Holocaust has been a prominent subject of art and literature throughout the second half of the twentieth century. There are a wide range of ways–including dance, film, literature, music, and television–in which the Holocaust has been repre ...
(
Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, U ...
,
Edgar Hilsenrath Edgar Hilsenrath (April 2, 1926 – December 30, 2018) was a German-Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor. He wrote several fictional novels that gave an unvarnished view of the Holocaust which were partly based on his own experiences in a Nazi co ...
) *
GDR Literature East German literature is the literature produced in East Germany from the time of the Soviet occupation in 1945 until the end of the communist government in 1990. The literature of this period was heavily influenced by the concepts of socialist r ...
in East Germany:
Johannes R. Becher Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writin ...
,
Wolf Biermann Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976. Early life Biermann was b ...
,
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
,
Sarah Kirsch Sarah Kirsch (; 16 April 1935 – 5 May 2013) was a German poet. Biography Sarah Kirsch was originally born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony but had changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's an ...
, Günter Kunert,
Reiner Kunze Reiner Kunze (born 16 August 1933 in Oelsnitz, Erzgebirge, Saxony) is a German writer and GDR dissident. He studied media and journalism at the University of Leipzig. In 1968, he left the GDR state party SED following the communist Warsaw Pact ...
, Heiner Müller,
Anna Seghers Anna Seghers (; born ''Anna Reiling,'' 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), is the pseudonym of a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian ...
, Christa Wolf * Postwar literature of Switzerland and Austria: Ingeborg Bachmann,
Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...
, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, Elfriede Jelinek, Peter Handke * Postmodern literature: Christian Kracht,
Hans Wollschläger 150px, Signature, 1988 Hans Wollschläger (17 March 1935, in Minden – 19 May 2007, in Bamberg) was a German writer, translator, historian, and editor of German literature. Biography Wollschläger is widely known as the translator of '' Ulysse ...
, Christoph Ransmayr,
Marlene Streeruwitz Marlene Streeruwitz (born 28 June 1950) is an Austrian playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. Biography Born in Baden bei Wien in 1950, Streeruwitz was raised in a well-to-do family. Her father was a politician and later became mayor ...
,
Rainald Goetz Rainald Maria Goetz (born 24 May 1954, in Munich) is a German author, playwright and essayist. Biography After studying History and Medicine in Munich and earning a degree (PhD and M.D) in each, he soon concentrated on his writing. His first p ...
,
Clemens J. Setz Clemens J. Setz (born 15 November 1982, in Graz), is an Austrian writer and translator. He debuted in 2007 with the novel ''Söhne und Planeten''. His second novel, ''Die Frequenzen'', was shortlisted for the German Book Prize. He won the 2011 L ...
,
Oswald Wiener Oswald may refer to: People * Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Canterb ...
*
W.G. Sebald Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...


21st century

Much of contemporary poetry in the German language is published in literary magazines. DAS GEDICHT, for instance, has featured German poetry from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxemburg for the last twenty years. *Science-Fiction, Fantasy:
Andreas Eschbach Andreas Eschbach (born 15 September 1959, in Ulm) is a German writer, primarily of science fiction. His stories that are not clearly in the SF genre usually feature elements of the fantastic. Biography Eschbach studied aerospace engineering ...
,
Frank Schätzing Frank Schätzing (; born 28 May 1957) is a German writer, mostly known for his best-selling science fiction novel '' The Swarm'' ( 2004). Life Schätzing was born in Cologne and studied communication studies; he later ran his own company, a ...
,
Wolfgang Hohlbein Wolfgang Hohlbein (born 15 August 1953 in Weimar, Bezirk Erfurt) is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction who lives near Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia. His wife, Heike Hohlbein, is also a writer and often works with her ...
,
Bernhard Hennen Bernhard Hennen (born 1966 in Krefeld) is a German writer of fantasy literature. He is best known internationally for his series ''Die Elfen'' ("The Elves", since 2004), which has been translated into a number of European languages. Career He ...
,
Walter Moers Walter Moers (; born 24 May 1957 in Mönchengladbach) is a German comic creator and author. Life and work Moers held odd jobs after leaving school before starting a commercial apprenticeship. He taught himself how to draw, and has been publis ...
*
Pop Literature Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...
: Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre * Migrant literature: Wladimir Kaminer,
Feridun Zaimoglu Feridun (from Persian '' Freydun'', Proto-Iranian ''Θraitauna-'') is a masculine given name. People with the name include: * Feridun Ahmed Bey (died 1583), Ottoman official, bureaucrat, author and military officer *Feridun Düzağaç (born 1968), ...
, Rafik Schami *Poetry: Jürgen Becker, Marcel Beyer,
Theo Breuer Theo Breuer (born 30 March 1956) is a German poet, essayist, editor, translator and publisher. Life and work Theo Breuer was born in Bürvenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany and educated at Cologne University where he studied German an ...
, Rolf Dieter Brinkmann,
Marc Engelhard Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...
, Hans Magnus Enzensberger,
Aldona Gustas Aldona Gustas (2 March 1932 – 8 December 2022) was a Lithuanian-German poet and illustrator. Biography Gustas was born in the Lithuanian village of Karceviškiai in 1932. Her family lived for some time in Vilnius, but she and her mother fled ...
, Ernst Jandl,
Thomas Kling Thomas Kling (June 5, 1957 – April 1, 2005) was a German poet. Life Thomas Kling was born in Bingen am Rhein, grew up in Hilden and went to school in Düsseldorf. He studied philology in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Vienna and lived in Finland for ...
,
Uwe Kolbe Uwe or UWE may refer to * Uwe (given name) * University of the West of England, Bristol * UML-based web engineering * University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2 * Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese Blank ...
, Friederike Mayröcker, Durs Grünbein,
Kurt Marti Kurt Marti (31 January 1921 – Bern, 11 February 2017) was a Swiss theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in uni ...
,
Karl Krolow Karl Krolow (11 March 1915 – 21 June 1999) was a German poet and translator. In 1956 he was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize. He was born in Hanover, Germany, and died in Darmstadt, Germany. Biography Krolow came from a family of civil servants ...
,
Elke Erb Elke Erb (born 18 February 1938) is a German author-poet based in Berlin. She has also worked as a literary editor and translator. Biography Family provenance and early years Elke Erb was born at Rheinbach, Scherbach (today part of Rheinbach) i ...
*Aphorists: Hans Kruppa *Thriller: Ingrid Noll *Novel:
Wilhelm Genazino Wilhelm Genazino (22 January 1943 – 12 December 2018) was a German journalist and author. He worked first as a journalist for the satirical magazine '' pardon'' and for ''Lesezeichen''. From the early 1970s, he was a freelance writer who became ...
,
Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...
, Herta Müller,
Siegfried Lenz Siegfried Lenz (; 17 March 19267 October 2014) was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's bi ...
,
Charlotte Link Charlotte Link (born 5 October 1963 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German writer. She is among the most successful contemporary authors writing in German. Life Charlotte Link is the daughter of well-known German writer and journalist Almuth Link. ...
,
Rainald Goetz Rainald Maria Goetz (born 24 May 1954, in Munich) is a German author, playwright and essayist. Biography After studying History and Medicine in Munich and earning a degree (PhD and M.D) in each, he soon concentrated on his writing. His first p ...
,
Anna Kaleri Anna Kaleri (born 1974 in Wippra) is a German writer and screenwriter. Biography Anna Kaleri was born 1974 in the Harz Mountains in the former GDR. She studied from 1996 to 2002 at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig. After her dipl ...
, Norbert Scheuer, Dietmar Dath, Christian Kracht, Kathrin Schmidt,
Burkhard Spinnen Burkhard Spinnen (born December 28, 1956 in Mönchengladbach) is a German author. Education and early life Spinnen grew up in Mönchengladbach as the only child of Willy and Cornelia Spinnen. After completing his secondary education and his mil ...
,
Robert Menasse Robert Menasse (born 21 June 1954) is an Austrian writer. Biography Menasse was born in Vienna. As an undergraduate, he studied German studies, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesi ...
, Martin Walser,
Andreas Mand Andreas Mand (born 14 December 1959) is a German contemporary author of novels, short stories and essays and a playwright. He is one of the representatives of the German Popular literature, and in addition a stay-at-home dad, because he wanted t ...
,Twenty-Third Annual Bibliography
Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature at the Washington University, in St. Louis, Missouri, Retrieved 13 December 2011
Zsuzsa Bánk Zsuzsa Bánk (born 24 October 1965, in Frankfurt am Main) is a German writer. Her parents moved to Germany after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hungarian revolution of 1956 and she studied journalism, political science, and literature at the J ...
,
Marc Degens Marc Degens (born 18 August 1971) is a German novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and musician. Life and work Born in Essen, Degens grew up in the Ruhr Valley, and finished high school in Dorsten. He studied German studies and sociology at t ...
,
Jenny Erpenbeck Jenny Erpenbeck (born 12 March 1967) is a German writer and opera director, recipient of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Life Born in East Berlin, Erpenbeck is the daughter of the physicist, philosopher and writer John Erpenbeck and th ...
,
Klaus Modick Klaus Modick (born 3 May 1951) is a German author and literary translator. Education and early career Klaus Modick was born in Oldenburg and completed his secondary education at the Altes Gymnasium there in 1971. He then attended Hamburg Univ ...
, Peter Handke, Elfriede Jelinek, Daniel Kehlmann * Literaturport (in German): audio clips of contemporary literature, many read out by the authors themselves * German-American literature:
Paul-Henri Campbell Paul-Henri Campbell (born 1982) is a German-American author. He is a bilingual author of poetry and prose in English and German. He studied classical philology, with a concentration on ancient Greek, as well as Catholic theology at the National U ...
, Walter Abish


Nobel Prize laureates

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German-language authors fourteen times (as of 2020), tying with French-language authors, or the second most often after English-language authors (with 32). The following writers are from Germany unless stated otherwise: *1902 Theodor Mommsen *1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken *1910 Paul Heyse *1912 Gerhart Hauptmann *1919
Carl Spitteler Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special appreciation of his epic, ''Olympian Spring''". His work includes both pessimistic and hero ...
(Swiss) *1929 Thomas Mann *1946 Hermann Hesse *1966
Nelly Sachs Nelly Sachs (; 10 December 1891 – 12 May 1970) was a German-Swedish poet and playwright. Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of he ...
*1972 Heinrich Böll *1981 Elias Canetti (Bulgarian, later British) *1999
Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...
*2004 Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian) *2009 Herta Müller (Romanian by birth, later naturalized in West Germany) *2019 Peter Handke (Austrian)


See also

*
Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
* German-speaking Europe *
Swiss literature As there is no dominant national language, the four main languages of French, Italian, German and Romansch form the four branches which make up a literature of Switzerland. The original Swiss Confederation, from its foundation in 1291 up to 1 ...
* Austrian literature *
Stiftung Lesen Stiftung Lesen (Reading Foundation) is a non-profit organization based in Mainz, Germany under the patronage of Joachim Gauck. Stiftung Lesen acts as a stakeholder for reading promotion on a national and international level. It contributes to readi ...
* History of German *
List of German-language authors This list contains the names of persons (of any ethnicity or nationality) who wrote fiction, essays, or plays in the German language. It includes both living and deceased writers. Most of the medieval authors are alphabetized by their first na ...
*
List of German-language playwrights This is a list of German-language playwrights. A *Herbert Achternbusch B * Wolfgang Bauer (1941–2005) *Thomas Bernhard *Leo Birinski * Nicolai Borger * Bertolt Brecht *Georg Büchner D *Friedrich Dürrenmatt F *Gustav Freytag G ...
*
List of German-language poets This list contains the names of individuals (of any ethnicity or nationality) who wrote poetry in the German language. Most are identified as "German poets", but some are not German. A * Abraham a Sancta Clara *Friedrich Achleitner *Dietmar von A ...
*
List of German-language philosophers This is a list of German language, German-language philosophers. The following individuals have written philosophical texts in the German language. Many are categorized as :German philosophers, German philosophers or :Austrian philosophers, Aust ...
* History of literature *
Sophie (digital lib) The Sophie Digital Library is a digital library and resource center for works produced by German-speaking women pre-17th century through the early 20th century, a group that has often been underrepresented in collections of historical printed wo ...
* Luso-Germanic Literature *
Kindler literature encyclopedia The Kindler Literature encyclopedia (in German: Das Kindler Literatur Lexikon) is an encyclopedia released in Germany covering information about world literature. Its first edition was released from 1965 to 1972 (7 volumes). Its second and third ed ...
*
Media of Germany Mass media in Germany includes a variety of online, print, and broadcast formats, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. History The modern printing press developed in Mainz in the 15th century, and its innovative technology sprea ...
**
Books in Germany As of 2018, ten firms in Germany rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: C.H. Beck, Bertelsmann, , , Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, , Springer Nature, Thieme, , and Westermann Druck- und Verlagsgruppe. Overall, "G ...


References


Literature


English

*''Cambridge History of German Literature''. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ed. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. *Konzett, Matthias Piccolruaz. ''Encyclopedia of German Literature''. Routledge, 2000. *''The Oxford Companion to German Literature'', ed. by Mary Garland and Henry Garland, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1997 * Grange, William, ed. ''Historical dictionary of German literature to 1945'' (2011
online
* *


German

*Bernd Lutz, Benedikt Jeßing (eds.): Metzler Lexikon Autoren: Deutschsprachige Dichter und Schriftsteller vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Stuttgart und Weimar: 4., aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage 2010 *
Theo Breuer Theo Breuer (born 30 March 1956) is a German poet, essayist, editor, translator and publisher. Life and work Theo Breuer was born in Bürvenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany and educated at Cologne University where he studied German an ...
, Aus dem Hinterland. Lyrik nach 2000, Sistig/Eifel : Edition YE, 2005, * Theo Breuer, Kiesel & Kastanie (ed.): Von neuen Gedichten und Geschichten, Sistig/Eifel : Edition YE, 2008, *
Jürgen Brocan Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is cognate with George. Notable people named Jürgen include: A * Jürgen Ahrend (born 1930), German organ builder *Jürgen Alzen (born 1 ...
,
Jan Kuhlbrodt Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...
(eds.), Umkreisungen. 25 Auskünfte zum Gedicht, Leipzig: Poetenladen Literaturverlag, 2010 *
Manfred Enzensperger ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction. Byr ...
(ed.), Die Hölderlin-Ameisen: Vom Finden und Erfinden der Poesie, Cologne: Dumont, 2005 *
Peter von Matt Peter von Matt (born 20 May 1937) is a Swiss philologist and author. Life Born in Lucerne, Peter von Matt grew up in Stans in the canton of Nidwalden. He studied Art History as well as German and English studies in Zurich and received a docto ...
, Die verdächtige Pracht. Über Dichter und Gedichte, Munich tc.: Hanser, 1998 *
Joachim Sartorius Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...
(ed.), Mimima Poetica. Für eine Poetik des zeitgenössischen Gedichts, Cologne : Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1999


Anthologies

*German poetry from 1750 to 1900, ed. by Robert M. Browning. Foreword by Michael Hamburger, New York : Continuum, 1984, 281 pp. (German Library), *Twentieth-Century German Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Michael Hofmann, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008 (Paperback Edition), 544 pp., * Heinz Ludwig Arnold (ed.), TEXT+KRITIK: Lyrik des 20. Jahrhunderts (1999). *Verena Auffermann,
Hubert Winkels Hubert is a Germanic masculine given name, from ''hug'' "mind" and ''beraht'' "bright". It also occurs as a surname. Saint Hubertus or Hubert (c. 656 – 30 May 727) is the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians, and metalworkers. ...
(ed.), Beste Deutsche Erzähler (2000–) *
Hans Bender Hans Bender (5 February 1907 – 7 May 1991) was a German lecturer on the subject of parapsychology, who was also responsible for establishing the parapsychological institute ''Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene'' in F ...
(ed.), In diesem Lande leben wir. Deutsche Gedichte der Gegenwart (1978) *Hans Bender, Was sind das für Zeiten. Deutschsprachige Gedichte der achtziger Jahre (1988) *
Christoph Buchwald Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German variant of Christopher. Notable people with the given name Christoph * Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician * Christoph Büchel (born 1966), Swiss artist * Christoph Dientzenhofe ...
,
Uljana Wolf Uljana Wolf is a German poet and translator (from English and Polish) known for exploring multilingualism in her work. Wolf works in both Berlin and New York. She teaches German at New York University. Uljana Wolf was born in East Berlin in 1979. ...
(ed.), Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2009 (2009) *
Karl Otto Conrady Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...
(ed.), Der Große Conrady. Das Buch deutscher Gedichte. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (2008). * Hugo von Hofmannsthal (ed.), Deutsche Erzähler I (1912, 1979) * Marie Luise Kaschnitz (ed.), Deutsche Erzähler II (1971, 1979) *Boris Kerenski & Sergiu Stefanescu, Kaltland Beat. Neue deutsche Szene (1999) *
Axel Kutsch Axel may refer to: People * Axel (name), all persons with the name Places * Axel, Netherlands, a town ** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586 Arts, entertainment, media * ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove * ''Axel'', a Cirque d ...
(ed.), Versnetze. Deutschsprachige Lyrik der Gegenwart (2009) *
Andreas Neumeister Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...
, Marcel Hartges (ed.), Poetry! Slam! Texte der Pop-Fraktion (1996)


External links


Sophie
– A digital library of works by German-speaking women * {{DEFAULTSORT:German Literature