Leila Vennewitz (19128 August 2007) was a Canadian-English translator 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 ...
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and grew up in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. Her brother was the surgeon Sir John Croot.
She studied at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in Paris, continuing her studies in Germany and China, where she spent twelve years. She is best known today for her translations of the works of
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).
...
, the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
-winning German novelist. She also translated the works of
Martin Walser
Martin Walser (; born 24 March 1927) is a German writer.
Life
Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee, on Lake Constance. His parents were coal merchants, and they also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. He described the e ...
,
Uwe Johnson
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 ...
,
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
,
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. ...
,
Alexander Kluge
Alexander Kluge (born 14 February 1932) is a German author, philosopher, academic and film director.
Early life, education and early career
Kluge was born in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony (now Saxony-Anhalt), Germany.
After growing up durin ...
,
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (; 5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-g ...
,
Jurek Becker
Jurek Becker (, probably 30 September 1937 – 14 March 1997) was a Polish-born German writer, screenwriter and East German dissident. His most famous novel is '' Jacob the Liar'', which has been made into two films. He lived in Łódź during W ...
,
Uwe Timm
Uwe Timm (; born 30 March 1940 in Hamburg) is a German writer.
Life and work
Uwe Timm was born in the year 1940 in Hamburg.
Uwe Timm was the youngest son in his family. His brother, 16 years his senior, was a soldier in the Waffen SS and died i ...
,
Walter Kempowski
Walter Kempowski (; 29 April 1929 – 5 October 2007) was a German writer. Kempowski was known for his series of novels called ''German Chronicle'' ("Deutsche Chronik") and the monumental ''Echolot'' ("Sonar"), a collage of autobiographical repo ...
and
Alfred Andersch
Alfred Hellmuth Andersch (; 4 February 1914 – 21 February 1980) was a German writer, publisher, and radio editor. The son of a conservative East Prussian army officer, he was born in Munich, Germany and died in Berzona, Ticino, Switzerland. Ma ...
.
Her notable translations include:
Heinrich Böll:
*''
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
''Billiards at Half-Past Nine'' (german: Billard um halb zehn) is a 1959 novel by the German author Heinrich Böll.The Clown'' (1965)
*''End of a Mission'' (''Ende einer Dienstfahrt'') -
Schlegel-Tieck Prize
The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation is a literary translation award given by the Society of Authors in London. Translations from the German original into English are considered for the prize. The value of the prize is £3,000.
from the
Society of Authors
The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and as ...
The Train Was on Time
''The Train Was on Time'' (german: Der Zug war pünktlich) is a novella by German author Heinrich Böll. Published by Friedrich Middelhauve Verlag in Cologne in 1949, the book is about a German soldier, Andreas, taking a train to Przemyśl in Pol ...
'' (1973)
*''
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
''The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, or: how violence develops and where it can lead'' (original German title: , ) is a 1974 novel by Heinrich Böll.
The story deals with the sensationalism of tabloid news and the political climate of panic ove ...
A Soldier's Legacy
''A Soldier's Legacy'' (german: Das Vermächtnis) is a novel by German author Heinrich Böll, published in 1982 (translator: Leila Vennewitz).
Written in 1948, the narrator writes about his dead friend Schelling, revealing his murder by the hate ...
'' (''Das Vermächtnis'') (1981)
Other:
*Alexander Kluge: ''Attendance List for a Funeral'', later reprinted as ''Case Histories'' (''Lebensläufe'') (1966; 1988)
*Alexander Kluge: '' The Battle'' (''Schlachtbeschreibung'') (1967)
*Alfred Andersch: ''
The Father of a Murderer
The Father of a Murderer is the last narrative written by German author Alfred Andersch. It was published in 1980, the year that Andersch died, and describes a 1928 school lesson attended by grammar school student Franz Kien. The story is consid ...
'' (''Der Vater eines Mörders'') (1994)
*Friedrich Dürrenmatt - ''Oedipus'' (1989)
*Hermann Hesse: ''
Narcissus and Goldmund
''Narcissus and Goldmund'' (; also published as ''Death and the Lover'') is a novel written by the German–Swiss author Hermann Hesse which was first published in 1930. At its publication, ''Narcissus and Goldmund'' was considered Hesse's liter ...
'' (''Narziss und Goldmund'') - shortlisted for the Schlegel-Tieck Prize (1994)
*Jurek Becker: '' Jacob the Liar'' (''Jakob der Lügner'')- Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize (1997)
* Martin Walser: ''Breakers'' (''Brandung'') - German Literary Prize from the
American Translators Association
The American Translators Association (ATA) is the largest professional association of translators and interpreters in the United States with nearly 8,500 members in more than 100 countries.
Founded in 1959, membership is open to anyone with an ...
(1989)
*Nicolas Born: ''The Deception'' (1983)
*Uwe Johnson: '' Anniversaries: From the Life of Gesine Cresspahl'' (1975) (abridged translation of Volume 1 and part of Volume 2 of ''Jahrestage'')
*Uwe Johnson: ''Anniversaries II'' (1987) (abridged translation of part of Volume 2 and all of Volume 3, with
Walter Arndt
Walther Arndt (8 January 1891 in Landeshut, Silesia, now Kamienna Góra, Poland – 26 June 1944 in Brandenburg) was a German zoologist and physician. A curator at the in Berlin, and a professor, he was executed for being critical of the Nazi ...
completing Volume 4 of ''Jahrestage'')
*Uwe Timm: ''
The Invention of Curried Sausage
''The Invention of Curried Sausage'' is a novella by German author Uwe Timm detailing the fictionalized invention of ''currywurst'', a popular dish of sausage in curry ketchup in Germany, as well as describing life in Hamburg in the last days of t ...
'' (1995)
*Walter Kempowski: ''Days of Greatness'' (1981)
Vennewitz was married twice. She spent the last 50 years of her life in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Canada. Her posthumous papers are stored at
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...