Hanns-Josef Ortheil (born 5 November 1951, in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

) is a German author, scholar of German literature, and pianist. He has written many autobiographical and historical novels, some of which have been translated into 11 languages, according to

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

: WorldCat identities
/ref> French, Dutch, Modern Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Lithuanian, Japanese, Slovenian, and Russian.

Biography

He was born the fifth son in an educated family; his mother, Mary Catherine Ortheil, was a librarian and his father a railroad surveyor and director. As a child, he did not speak, because his mother had temporarily lost her speech, following the loss of four sons during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. When Ortheil learned to play the piano, this was for him the first time he could express himself and communicate with the world around him. He at first wanted to be a pianist, and studied for a period at the

Rome Conservatory The Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia is a state conservatory in Rome. History The institution has its roots dated back to the Congregazione de' musici di Roma named after Saint Cecilia in 1565 (now Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia). Sinc ...

. In Germany he attended the

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium The Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium is a classical '' gymnasium'' school in the Neustadt district of Mainz. Subjects The Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium is a classical school. The first foreign language taught is Latin and the second is English. Later, three ...

, and then the Universities of Mainz, Göttingen, Paris and Rome. His subjects were musicology, philosophy, Germanic, and comparative literature. During this time, he worked as a film and music journalist for the Mainz '' Allgemeine Zeitung''. In 1976 he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the theory of the novel in the era of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

at the German Institute of the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stud ...

Career

Among his published works is a travel narrative (''Die Moselreise'') he had already written as a boy of eleven, when his father took him on a tour of the Moselle. Ortheil was a feature writer and literary critic for the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

'', ''TIME'', ''The World'', '' Der Spiegel'' and the '' Neue Zürcher Zeitung''. He is professor for creative writing and cultural journalism at the

University of Hildesheim The University of Hildesheim (in German ''Universität Hildesheim'') is a public university located in Hildesheim. History Alfeld University of Education (Pädagogische Hochschule Alfeld) - University of Hildesheim The University of Hildeshe ...

. In 2006 he was appointed as honorary professor at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. Since 2009, he is director of the newly established Institute for Literary Writing and Literary Studies at the Hildesheim Foundation University.

Publications

Non-fiction

*''Wilhelm Klemm – Ein Lyriker der "Menschheitsdämmerung"'', Stuttgart 1979 *''Der poetische Widerstand im Roman'', Königstein/Taunus 1980 *''Mozart im Innern seiner Sprachen'', Frankfurt/Main 1982 *''Jean Paul'', Reinbek bei Hamburg 1984 *''Köder, Beute und Schatten. Suchbewegungen'', Essays. Frankfurt/Main 1985 *''Schauprozesse. Beiträge zur Kultur der 80er Jahre'', Essays, München 1990 *''Das Glück der Musik – Vom Vergnügen Mozart zu hören'', München 2006 *''Wie Romane entstehen'', München 2008, with Klaus Siblewski *''Lesehunger. Ein Bücher-Menu in 12 Gängen'', München 2009 *''Was ich liebe – und was nicht'', München 2016

Fiction and historical fiction

*''Schwerenöter'', München 1987 *''Faustinas Küsse'', München 1998 *''Im Licht der Lagune'', München 1999 *''Die Nacht des Don Juan'', München 2000 *''Die Erfindung des Lebens'', München 2009

Awards

*1979

Aspekte-Literaturpreis The Aspekte-Literaturpreis (''Aspekte'' Literature Prize) is awarded annually for the best debut novel written in German, as judged by a panel of writers, critics, and scholars. The prize is sponsored by the ZDF television network through its arts ...

*1981 Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für Literatur *1982 Sonderpreis der Lektoren beim Ingeborg-Bachmann-Wettbewerb *1988 Literaturpreis der Stadt Stuttgart *1991

Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...

Stipendium *2000 Brandenburgischer Literaturpreis *2000/2001

Mainzer Stadtschreiber The Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award. It is awarded by ZDF, 3sat and the city of Mainz and was founded in 1984. The award is endowed with €12,500. Additionally the laureate receives the right to l ...

*2001 Verdienstmedaille des Landes Baden-Württemberg *2002 Thomas Mann Prize of the City of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

*2004 *2005 Honorary literary citizen of the city of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

*2006 Koblenzer Literaturpreis *2007

Nicolas Born Prize The Nicolas Born Prize, awarded by the German state of Lower Saxony, is a literary prize given since 2000 in honour of the writer Nicolas Born. It is awarded to notable German-language writers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The main priz ...

*2009 *2016 Hannelore Greve Literature Prize

Lectureships in poetics

* WS 1993/1994 Lectureship in poetics at the

University of Paderborn Paderborn University (german: Universität Paderborn) is one of the fourteen public research universities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter ...

* WS 1994/1995 Lectureship in poetics at

Bielefeld University Bielefeld University (german: Universität Bielefeld) is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization ...

* WS 1998/1999 Poetics lectureship at the

* WS 2005/2006 Poetics lectureship at the

University of Zürich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

* SS 2007 Professorship in poetry at the

University of Bamberg The University of Bamberg (german: Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg) in Bamberg, Germany, specializes in the humanities, cultural studies, social sciences, economics, and applied computer science. Campus The university is mainly housed in ...

References

External links

* *
readings for listening and downloading by Hanns-Josef Ortheil on Lesungen.net

in:

NRW Literatur im Netz NRW Literatur im Netz is a German internet database with short biographies of persons who have lived or worked in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Westphälische Literaturbüro (Westphalian office for literature) in Unna operates the biggest database ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortheil, Hanns-Josef 1951 births Living people Writers from Cologne People from the Rhine Province Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg