Manfred Osten (born 19 January 1938 in

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal re ...

) is a German poet, author, lawyer, former diplomat and cultural historian.

Biography

He escaped to the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

in 1952. In 1969, he earned a doctorate upon the completion of a thesis concerning the concept of natural law in the early writings of

Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual * Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher * Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educato ...

. He then joined the diplomatic service of the Federal Republic of Germany. His career as a diplomat included postings in France, Cameroon, Chad, Australia, Japan, and Hungary. From 1995 to 2004 he was the Secretary-General of the

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Rese ...

. He is an honorary Doctor of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the

University of Pécs The University of Pécs (UP; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Pécsi Tudományegyetem''; PTE) is an institution of higher education in Hungary. The modern university was established in 1912 but has its roots in the medieval university founded ...

, the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

, and the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași. In 1993 he received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government. He is in addition a member of the

Academy of Sciences and Literature The Academy of Sciences and Literature (german: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, AdW Mainz) is a scientific academy in Mainz, Germany. It was established in 1949 on an initiative of Alfred Döblin. The academy's goal is to su ...

in Mainz. In 2008 he was admitted to the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

Publications

Monographs

* ''Gedenke zu leben! Wage es, glücklich zu sein!''- oder Goethe und das Glück, Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8353-3024-5. * ''Gespräche über Gott, Geist und Geld'' – Peter Sloterdijk, Thomas Macho, Manfred Osten, Herder Verlag, Freiburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-451-06872-0. * ''Alles veloziferisch oder Goethes Entdeckung der Langsamkeit. Zur Modernität eines Klassikers im 21. Jahrhundert'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/ Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-458-17159-2. * mit Hans U. Brauner: ''Es gilt das gebrochene Wort – Das Ende der Glaubwürdigkeit.'' Allitera Verlag, München 2013, ISBN 978-3-86906-575-5. * ''Die Kunst, Fehler zu machen.'' (= Bibliothek der Lebenskunst). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-41744-4. * ''Diese gewisse Leichtigkeit. Horst Janssen und der Mozart-Faktor.'' St. Gertrude-Verlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-935855-08-7. * ''Das geraubte Gedächtnis: digitale Systeme und die Zerstörung der Erinnerungskultur; eine kleine Geschichte des Vergessens.'' Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/ Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-458-17231-9. * ''Homunculus, die beschleunigte Zeit und Max Beckmanns Illustrationen zur Modernität Goethes'' Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-515-08205-0. * als Hrsg.: ''Alexander von Humboldt: Über die Freiheit des Menschen auf der Suche nach Wahrheit.'' Insel-Suhrkamp-Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-458-34221-4. * ''Die Erotik des Pfirsichs: 12 Porträts japanischer Schriftsteller.'' (Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch 2015). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-518-39015-5.

References

External links

* Personal homepage: https://manfredosten.de
Goethe and the Velociferic Tendencies of the Modern Age Part I

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osten, Manfred 1938 births Living people People from Ludwigslust German male poets Academic staff of Peking University Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun