Ernst Meister (3 September 1911 – 15 June 1979) was a German poet and writer. Meister's poetry falls within a dark abstract landscape of

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

, with tortured themes influenced by his experiences during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In his 1976 collection of poems, ''Im Zeitspalt'' ("In Time's Rift"), Meister frankly addresses mortality and the nothingness of our existence as both mind and body decay into death. His poetry is noted for is spare brevity and difficult syntax and has been compared to the work of Romanian poet

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 ...

(1920–1970), Meister's contemporary in German letters. However, despite writing 16 collections of verse, Meister was not involved with the dominant literary and cultural elite and his works were relatively unknown during his lifetime.

Biography

Ernst Meister was raised in Hagen, Germany. He studied theology, literature, art history, and philosophy (the latter under Karl Löwith and Hans-Georg Gadamer) at various German universities before enlisting as a soldier in the Second World War. A number of war-related experiences are worked into his poems, stories, radio plays, and stage plays. His first major publication, ''Austellung'', appeared in 1932, following which he published nothing for two decades. This period of silence ultimately gave way to the prolific last third of his life. Between 1953 and 1979, Meister produced more than 16 volumes of verse along with a number of other literary and visual works. He received a number of awards in his lifetime, including the Annette von Droste-Hülshoff Prize in 1957, the Great Art Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1963, the

Petrarch Prize Petrarca-Preis was a European literary and translation award named after the Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch. Founded in 1975 by German art historian and publisher Hubert Burda, it was primarily designed for contemporary ...

in 1976, and the Rainer Maria Rilke Prize for Poetry jointly with

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 ...

in 1978. Meister was posthumously given the most prestigious award in German literature, the

Georg Büchner Prize The Georg Büchner Prize (german: link=no, Georg-Büchner-Preis) is the most important literary prize for German language literature, along with the Goethe Prize. The award is named after dramatist and writer Georg Büchner, author of ''Woyzeck'' ...

, having been informed of the honor days before his death. He has champions within Germany literature, having been a mentor to the poet and novelist

Nicolas Born Nicolas Born (31 December 1937 in Duisburg – 7 December 1979 in Lüchow-Dannenberg) was a German writer. Nicolas Born was – together with Rolf Dieter Brinkmann – one of the most important and most innovative German poets of his generation. ...

and leaving many to grapple with his place in the German canon.

Works

Poetry * 1932: ''Ausstellung'' (trans. ''Exhibition'') * 1953: ''Unterm schwarzen Schafspelz'' (trans. ''Under Black Sheep's Clothing'') * 1954: ''Dem Spiegelkabinett gegenüber'' * 1972: ''Sage vom Ganzen den Satz'' * 1976: ''Im Zeitspalt'' (trans. ''In Time's Rift'') * 1979: ''Wandloser Raum''
''In Time's Rift [Im Zeitspalt]''
Translated by

Graham Foust Graham W. Foust (born August 25, 1970) is an American poet and currently is an associate professor at the University of Denver. Early life and education Foust was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He has a Bachel ...

and Samuel Frederick,

Wave Books Wave Books (established 2005) is an American independent press focusing on the publication of poetry, with a focus on innovative, contemporary poetry and poetry in translation. This independent publisher has published books by CAConrad, Don Mee ...

, 2012
''Wallless Space''
Translated by

and Samuel Frederick,

, 2014

References

Notes

External links

Author page
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meister, Ernst German poets 20th-century German philosophers German male poets German-language poets 1911 births 1979 deaths Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Biography

Works

References

Notes

Further reading

External links