Uvo Hölscher (8 March 1914 - 31 December 1996) was a German classical philologist.

Life

Uvo Hölscher was born, the younger of his parents' two recorded sons, in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

. His father, Gustav Hölscher was a theologian. His mother, born Borghild Gjessing, was the daughter of a school director from Oslo. His grandfather, Wilhelm Hölscher, was also a theologian. Uvo Hölscher attended

secondary schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Marburg and Bonn. He moved on to Tübingen and Munich universities where he studied

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s and cultural sciences, then progressing to Frankfurt where he studied classical philology, enthused in particular by the lecturer Karl Reinhardt. It was at Reinhardt's regular Saturday morning gatherings that he met Max Kommerell and his student contemporary Dorothea Lohmeyer, whom in 1940 he married. In 1937 he received his doctorate for a dissertation on "The Philosophy of Empedocles", supervised for the work by Reinhardt. The next day he was conscripted for his military

service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

. He nevertheless managed to receive his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1944, during a brief vacation with

Bruno Snell Bruno Snell (18 June 1896 – 31 October 1986) was a German classical philologist. From 1931 to 1959 he held a chair for classical philology at the University of Hamburg where he established the ''Thesaurus Linguae Graecae'' research centre in 194 ...

in Hamburg. However, his dissertation, which concerned the use of the Ekkyklema machine in Greek drama, was not published and he was obliged to provide the party with a statement that he would never apply to become a professor. After the war ended he was imprisoned under conditions that became particularly harsh after he tried to escape. He was released in 1946 and his habilitation was re-awarded, this time at Munich where for a time he was the sole representative of his discipline at the university, till he was joined by

Friedrich Klingner Friedrich Klingner (7 July 1894 – 26 January 1968) was a German Classical Philologist. He worked at increasingly senior levels as a university professor, successively at the universities of Hamburg (1925–1930), Leipzig (1930–1947) and Mun ...

and Rudolf Pfeiffer. After a period in England, in 1954 Hölscher was appointed a professor at the recently launched Free University of Berlin. He transferred to Heidelberg in 1962 and then, in 1970, returned as a professor to Munich. Hölscher's work followed the trajectory set by his mentor, Karl Reinhardt. His work covered early Greek epic poetry, especially that of Homer, and

Pre-Socratic philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of thes ...

. His best known book is a justification for classical philology, ''"Die Chance des Unbehagens - Zur Situation der klassischen Studien" (1965)''. His formulation of the ''"adjacent stranger"'' is often cited when describing the relationship between the modern age and antiquity. His most important work is ''"Die Odyssee - Epos zwischen Märchen und Roman" (1988)''.

Memberships and honours

* Between 1969 and 1971 Hölscher was a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He remained a corresponding member after his move to Munich. * Between 1978 and 1990 he served as president of the Hölderlin Society. * In 1989 he was the winner of Pforzheim's Reuchlin Prize.

Output (selection)

* ''Die Odyssee. Epos zwischen Märchen und Roman.'' 3. Auflage. Beck, München 1990, . * ''Die Chance des Unbehagens. 3 Essais zur Situation der klassischen Studien.'' Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1965. * ''Das nächste Fremde. Von Texten der griechischen Frühzeit und ihrem Reflex in der Moderne.'' Beck, München 1994, (collected essays, also including a biography of Hölscher). * ''Strömungen der deutschen Gräzistik in den Zwanziger Jahren.'' In:

Hellmut Flashar Hellmut Flashar (; 3 December 1929 – 17 August 2022) was a German classical philologist and translator. Life and career Flashar was born in Hamburg on 3 December 1929. As a professor, he taught at the University of Bochum (1965–1982) and ...

(compiler-editor): ''Altertumswissenschaft in den 20er Jahren.'' Steiner, Stuttgart 1995, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hölscher, Uvo 1914 births 1996 deaths German classical philologists Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Academic staff of Heidelberg University Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany