Tankred Dorst (19 December 1925 – 1 June 2017) was a German

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and storyteller. Dorst lived and worked in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. His farces, parables, one-act-plays and adaptations were inspired by the theatre of the absurd and the works of Ionesco,

Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

and Beckett. His monumental drama ''Merlin oder das wüste Land'', which was premiered in 1981 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, has been compared to

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

's ''Faust''. Some critics see it as the first major drama of the 1980s. In his tribute to Tankred Dorst on the occasion of the conferment of 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 ...

in 1990, Georg Hensel remarked that Dorst's plays all have a direct connection to the present: "For 30 years Dorst's plays have responded to the great transformations. He has always been a companion to the times." Dorst first directed the ''

Ring of the Nibelung (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelu ...

'' in

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

in 2006.

Biography

Tankred Dorst was born in Oberlind near

Sonneberg Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home to ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. Conscripted into the German army as a pupil at the age of 17, he was soon captured and incarcerated as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

. Until 1947 he remained in British and American hands. By the time he was released from war captivity, his birthplace had become part of the Soviet sector of Germany. He met his family in West Germany and completed his schooling. In 1950 he began studying German literature, art history and theatre in Bamberg and Munich. Through the 1950s he wrote his first plays for the

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...

theatre ''Das Kleine Spiel'', (some together with composer

Wilhelm Killmayer Wilhelm Killmayer (21 August 1927 – 20 August 2017) was a German composer of classical music, a conductor and an academic teacher of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München from 1973 to 1992. He composed symphonies and s ...

). After breaking off his studies, he worked in various capacities in theatre, film, radio and publishing houses. His first major plays were performed in 1960 in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. Since then, his plays have been performed in the whole world. Dorst's work has been recognized with many prizes and distinctions, including the

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He rece ...

Prize (1964), Prize of the City of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

(1970), Literature Prize of the Bayerische Akademie der Künste (1983),

Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis ("dramatist award of Mülheim"), founded in 1976, is one of the leading theater awards in Germany. It is awarded by an open jury of theater professionals, critics and playwrights who watch a short list of productions dur ...

(1989),

(1990), E.T.A. Hoffmann Prize (1996) and the city of Zurich's

Max Frisch Prize The Max Frisch Prize of the City of Zürich, created in 1996, is usually awarded every four years to writers in German-speaking countries. The prize is named after the Swiss writer Max Frisch (1911–1991). The literary award is endowed with a priz ...

(1998). In 2006, he was awarded the Samuel Bogumil Linde Prize. He was awarded the

European Prize for Literature European Prize for Literature (Prix Européen de Littérature) is a European-wide literary award sponsored by the city of Strasbourg with support from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (France).

Major works

* ''Die Kurve'' (1960) * ''Toller'' (1968) * ''Rotmord'' (1969, television film adaptation of ''Toller'' produced in collaboration with

Peter Zadek Peter Zadek (; 19 May 1926 – 30 July 2009) was a German director of theatre, opera and film, a translator and a screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in German-speaking theater. Biography Peter Zadek was born on 19 May ...

) * ''Sand'' (1971, television film directed by

Peter Palitzsch Peter Palitzsch (11 September 1918 – 18 December 2004) was a German theatre director. He worked with Bertolt Brecht in his Berliner Ensemble from the beginning in 1949, and was in demand internationally as a representative of Brecht's ideas. He ...

) * '' Eiszeit'' (1973) * ''Die Villa'' (1976) * ''Klaras Mutter'' (1978, television film ) * ' (1980, television film adaptation) * ''Merlin oder das wüste Land'' (1981) * ' (1982, movie adaptation) * ''Parzival'' (1987) * ''Ich Feuerbach'' (1987) * ''Korbes'' (1988) * ''Karlos'' (1990) * ''Herr Paul'' (1994) * ''Die Legende vom armen Heinrich'' (1997) * ''Kupsch'' (2001, monologue) * ''Die Freude am Leben'' (2001) * ''Othoon'' (2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorst, Tankred 1925 births 2017 deaths People from Sonneberg German television writers Male television writers Storytellers Schiller Memorial Prize winners Georg Büchner Prize winners Members of the German Academy for Language and Literature Male screenwriters German male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German male writers 21st-century German dramatists and playwrights 21st-century German male writers German-language writers German Army personnel of World War II German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States