Monika Maron (born 3 June 1941 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) is a German author, formerly of the

German Democratic Republic 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 ...

Biography

She moved in 1951 from West to East Berlin with her stepfather,

Karl Maron Karl Maron (1903–1975) was a German politician, who served as the interior minister of East Germany. He also assumed different posts in East Germany's government. Early life and education Maron was born in Berlin on 27 April 1903 and was educa ...

, the GDR Minister of the Interior. She studied theatre and spent time as a directing assistant and as a journalist. In the late 1970s, she began writing full-time in East Berlin. She left the GDR in 1988 with a three-year visa. After living in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

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 betwe ...

, until 1992, she returned to a reunited

, where she lives and writes. Her works deal to a large degree with confrontation with the past and explore the threats posed both by memory and isolation. Her prose is sparse, bleak, and lonely, conveying the sensitivity and desperation of her narrators. Her published work exhibited increasingly conservative political views. In October 2020 she announced that her publishing house had cut ties with her.

Awards

In 1992, she was distinguished with the renowned

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 Repu ...

, awarded annually to prominent German authors, and, in 2003, with the

Friedrich Hölderlin Prize Friedrich may refer to: Names * Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' * Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other * Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Year ...

Bibliography

* (''Flugasche'') (1981) * ''Herr Aurich'' (Mr. Aurich) (1982) * ''Das Mißverständnis'' (The misunderstanding) (1982) * The Defector (''Die Überläuferin'') (1986) * Silent Close No. 6 (''Stille Zeile Sechs'') (1991) * ''Nach Massgabe meiner Begreifungskraft: Essays und Artikel'' (by the measure of my ability to comprehend: essays and articles) (1993) * ''

Animal Triste Animal Triste, published in 1996, is a German-language novel by author Monika Maron, which took its name from a Latin phrase: ''"Triste est omne animal post coitum, præter mulierem gallumque."'' meaning "Every animal is sad after coitus except t ...

'' (1996) * Pavel's Letters (''Pawels Briefe'') (1999) * ''Endmoränen'' (end moraines) (2002) * ''Quer über die Gleise'' (sideways across the tracks) (2002) * ''Wie ich ein Buch nicht schreiben kann und es trotzdem versuche'' (how I cannot write a book but try to anyhow) (2005) * ''Ach, Glück'' (oh, happiness/luck) (2007) * ''Bitterfelder Bogen''. Ein Bericht (Bitterfeld arch: a report) (2009) * ''Zwei Brüder: Gedanken zur Einheit 1989–2009'' (two brothers: thoughts on unity 1989–2009) (2010) * ''Zwischenspiel'' (interlude) (2013) * ''Munin oder Chaos im Kopf'' (2018), . *''Krumme Gestalten, vom Wind gebissen'' (collection of essays, edited by right-winger

Götz Kubitschek Götz Kubitschek (; born 17 August 1970) is a German publisher, journalist and far-right political activist. He espouses ethnocentric positions and is one of the most important protagonists of the ''Neue Rechte'' (New Right) in Germany. Hailin ...

, 2020), *''Artur Lanz'' (2020),

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maron, Monika 1941 births Living people Writers from Berlin East German writers East German women German women writers Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Kleist Prize winners 20th-century German women