Martin Mosebach (born 31 July 1951, in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

) is a German writer.

Biography

He has published novels, stories, and collections of poems, written scripts for several films, opera libretti, theatre and radio plays. His first major non-fiction work is the book '' The 21 - A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs'' detailing his visit to Egypt to examine the lives of the 21 Coptic martyrs beheaded by ISIS in 2015. The

German Academy for Language and Literature German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

praised him for "combining stylistic splendour with original storytelling that demonstrates a humorous awareness of history." He is a Traditionalist Roman Catholic. Among Mosebach's works translated into English is ''The Heresy of Formlessness'', a collection of

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s on the

Latin language Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...

and its replacement by the

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

Mass of Paul VI The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 1970 ...

, as viewed from the perspective of a Catholic author and intellectual. It has been published in the United States by

Ignatius Press Ignatius Press is a Catholic publishing house based in San Francisco, California, US. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest and former pupil of Pope Benedict XVI. Ignatius Press also produces ''Catholic World Report'', ' ...

. The book argues for a return to the

, about which the 2007 motu proprio ''

Summorum Pontificum ''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Ben ...

'' declared that, rather than a "rite", it is a form of the one

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

, stating also that the 1962

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the m ...

, which contained its final form, had never been formally abrogated. Other works include ''The Turkish Woman'', ''The Tremor'', ''The Long Night'' and ''Prince of Mist'', in which the author examines the motives behind man's eternal search for a meaning.

Awards

Mosebach was awarded the

Kleist Prize The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Re ...

in 2002. In 2007, he was awarded 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'' ...

Publications

The following is a partial list of publications written by Mosebach:

Novels

* 1983: ''Das Bett'' (''The Bed'') * 1985: ''Ruppertshain'' 3-423-13159-4 * 1992: ''Westend'' * 1999: ''Die Türkin'' (''The Turkish Woman'') * 2000: ''Eine lange Nacht'' (''A Long Night'') * 2001: ''Der Nebelfürst'' (''Prince of the Mist'') * 2005: ''Das Beben'' (''The Tremor'') * 2007: ''Der Mond und das Mädchen'' (''The Moon and the Maiden'') * 2010: '' What Was Before'' (''Was davor geschah'') * 2014: ''Das Blutbuchenfest''

Short story collections

* 1995 ''Das Kissenbuch : Gedichte und Zeichnungen'' * 1995 ''Stilleben mit wildem Tier: Erzählungen'' * 1996 ''Das Grab Der Pulcinellen: Erzählungen, Pasticci, Phantasien'' * 1997 ''Die Schöne Gewohnheit zu Leben: eine italienische Reise'' * 2008 ''Stadt der wilden Hunde: Nachrichten aus dem alltäglichen Indien''

Essays

* 2002 ''Häresie der Formlosigkeit : die römische Liturgie und ihr Feind'' (''The Heresy of Formlessness'') * 2002 ''Mein Frankfurt'' * 2006 ''Schöne Literatur: Essays'' * 2012 ''Der Ultramontane''

Non-fiction

* 2019 ''The 21 - A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs''

References

External links

*
Mosebach Winner of Büchnerpreis
1951 births 20th-century German novelists 21st-century German novelists German essayists German traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholic writers Living people German Roman Catholics German Catholic poets Kleist Prize winners Georg Büchner Prize winners Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin German male essayists German male novelists German male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights 21st-century German dramatists and playwrights 20th-century essayists 21st-century essayists 20th-century German male writers 21st-century German male writers {{Germany-writer-stub