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 '' Ulysses'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. He also translated the complete works of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

(together with

Arno Schmidt Arno Schmidt (; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although he is not one of the p ...

), and novels by Raymond Chandler and

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

. He was vice chairman of the '' Karl-May-Gesellschaft'' (''

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his 19th century novels of fictitious travels and adventures, set in the American Old West with Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as main pro ...

society'') and was one of the editors of the historical

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of this author. He wrote several books of fiction and non-fiction, including a history of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

which has a polemical aspect (at the close of the book he suggests the Catholic Church be declared a criminal organisation) but also contains excerpts from several Arabic sources never previously translated into German. Originally Hans Wollschläger had studied music. He wrote three symphonies which have never been performed in public. He also worked on a performing edition of the draft of Gustav Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony, which he never completed. However, under the influence of

Erwin Ratz Erwin Ratz (22 December 1898, Graz – 12 December 1973, Vienna) was an Austrian musicologist and music theorist. He is known especially for his work as president of the ''Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft'' and for his book ''Einführung in die musikalisc ...

, Wollschläger came to the conclusion that an unfinished masterwork should not be touched, and publicly withdrew his edition in 1962.

Selected works

* ''Karl May'' (1965, 1976, 2004) * ''Die bewaffneten Wallfahrten gen Jerusalem'' (1970, 1973) * ''Nacht-Stücke'' (1974) * ''Die Gegenwart einer Illusion'' (1978) * ''Herzgewächse oder Der Fall Adams'' (1982) * ''Von Sternen und Schnuppen'' (1984) * ''In diesen geistfernen Zeiten'' (1986) * ''"Tiere sehen dich an" oder das Potential Mengele'

(1987). * ''Bannkreis der Besseren Heimat'' (1990) * ''Denn es gehet dem Menschen wie dem Vieh: Wie dies stirbt, so stirbt er auch'' (2001) * ''Moments musicaux.'' (2005) 1935 births 2007 deaths People from Minden Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Postmodern writers English–German translators 20th-century German translators 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-translator-stub