Walter Boehlich (16 September 1921 – 6 April 2006) was a German journalist, literary critic, literary editor and translator.

Life

Walter Boehlich was born in Breslau,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, as a son of writer Ernst Boehlich. During the Nazi regime, Boelich was discriminated at school because of his Jewish background. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he read philology at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

and became the assistant of Prof.

Ernst Robert Curtius Ernst Robert Curtius (; 14 April 1886 – 19 April 1956) was a German literary scholar, philologist, and Romance language literary critic, best known for his 1948 study ''Europäische Literatur und Lateinisches Mittelalter'', translated in Eng ...

, an expert on Romance studies and literary theory. He worked as literary critic for the

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly n ...

Die Zeit and for the

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

. As chief editor at Suhrkamp Verlag, he played a crucial part in making Suhrkamp a leading publishing house of German post-war literature and theory. After he had left Suhrkamp after an argument over editors' participation rights in 1968, Boehlich wrote for the German magazine, '' Kursbuch''. His pamphlet ''Autodafé'' on literature and its socio-historical background was published as a poster supplement to the magazine in 1968 and became a standard item of wall decoration in students' living communities of the time. Quote: :''Criticism is dead. Which one? The bourgeois kind that prevailed. It killed itself, died with the bourgeois world to which it belonged, died with the bourgeois literature that it slapped on the back, died with the bourgeois aesthetics on which it had set its foundations, died with the bourgeois god that had blessed it.'' From November 1979 until January 2001, he wrote a monthly political column for the – otherwise satirical – German magazine, ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

''. Boehlich translated several French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

books. Walter Boehlich was a member of the

Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. It is seated in Darmstadt, ...

(Darmstadt). He received the 1990 Johann Heinrich Merck Prize, the 1997 Jane Scatcherd Translator Prize, the 2001 Heinrich Mann Prize and the Wilhelm-Merton-Preis für Europäische Übersetzungen (Wilhelm Merton Prize for European Translations). In 2006, he died in

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

. In an obit, literary critic

Martin Lüdke Martin Lüdke (born April 9, 1943 in Apolda, Thuringia) is a German literary critic. Life After graduating from the Frankfurt Goethe-Gymnasium he initially began an apprenticeship in a shipping firm, but left to study philosophy, sociology, Ge ...

wrote in the Frankfurter Rundschau (14 April 2006): :''The essence of Suhrkamp Verlag, modern literature and corresponding theory, was owed – amongst others – to him. ... He was an accomplished literature scholar and knowledgeable about theory. That is why he could always tell his colleagues in their face what kind of 'nonsense' they just produced according to his invariably well-grounded opinion. Once I even saw him winning an argument over

Marcel Reich-Ranicki Marcel Reich-Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the fi ...

and make him leave gulping and speechlessly. ... Seldom has an author made so many enemies with his analysis, especially among his colleagues who sensed how they were losing ground. With Walter Boehlich, one of the last great intellectuals of the old Federal Republic has died. Even though he had many enemies, there are many who have to be thankful to him – and are.''

Works

*''1848''. Frankfurt am Main 1973.

Editor

* Marcel Proust: ''Briefe zum Werk'' (Letters to Work), Frankfurt am Main 1964 *''Der

Berliner Antisemitismusstreit Berliner is most often used to designate a citizen of Berlin, Germany Berliner may also refer to: People * Berliner (surname) Places * Berliner Lake, a lake in Minnesota, United States * Berliner Philharmonie, concert hall in Berlin, Germany * ...

'' (The Berlin Anti-semitism Argument), Frankfurt am Main 1965 et al. *

Georg Gottfried Gervinus Georg Gottfried Gervinus (20 May 1805 – 18 March 1871) was a German literary and political historian. Biography Gervinus was born in Darmstadt. He was educated at the gymnasium of the town, and intended for a commercial career, but in 1825 he b ...

: ''Einleitung in die Geschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts'' (Introduction to the History of the 19th Century), Frankfurt am Main 1967 *''Der Hochverratsprozeß gegen Gervinus'' (The High Treason Case against Gervinus), Frankfurt am Main 1967 *

Karl Gutzkow Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century. Life Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most meni ...

: ''Deutschland am Vorabend seines Falles oder seiner Größe'' (Germany on the Eve of its Fall of its Greatness), Frankfurt am Main 1969 *

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

: ''Schriften zur Politik'' (Writings on Politics), Frankfurt am Main 1970 *

Hjalmar Söderberg Hjalmar Emil Fredrik Söderberg (2 July 1869 – 14 October 1941) was a Swedish novelist, short story writer, playwright and journalist. His works often deal with melancholy and lovelorn characters, and offer a rich portrayal of contemporary Stoc ...

: ''

Doktor Glas ''Doctor Glas'', an epistolary novel by Hjalmar Söderberg, tells the story of a physician in 19th-century Sweden who deals with moral and love issues. Synopsis The novel is about Dr. Tyko Gabriel Glas who is a respected physician in Stockholm ...

'', Reinbek bei Hamburg 1992 *

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

: ''Jugendbriefe an Eduard Silberstein'' (Youth Letters of Eduard Silberstein), Frankfurt am Main 1989 *

David Friedrich Strauss David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he ...

: 'Soirées de Grandval'', Berlin 1996

Translations

Herman Bang Herman Joachim Bang (20 April 1857 – 29 January 1912) was a Danish journalist and author, one of the men of the Modern Breakthrough. Biography Bang was born in Asserballe, on the small Danish island of Als, the son of a South Jutlandic vicar ...

: ''Eine Geschichte vom Glück'' (A History of Luck), Berlin 1993 *Herman Bang: ''Sommerfreuden'' (Summer Friends), Reinbek bei Hamburg 1993 *Herman Bang: ''Das weiße Haus. Das graue Haus'' (The White House. The Grey House), Zürich 1958 *

Giambattista Basile Giambattista Basile (February 1566 – February 1632) was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector. His collections include the oldest recorded forms of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. He is chiefly remembere ...

: ''Das Märchen aller Märchen'' (The Fairy Tale of all Fairy Tales), Frankfurt am Main * Steen Steensen Blicher: ''Bruchstücke aus dem Tagebuch eines Dorfküsters'' (Fragments from the Diary of a Village Sexton), Berlin 1993 * Karen Blixen: ''On Modern Marriage and Other Observations'', Frankfurt am Main 1987 * Gabriel Dagan: ''Die Verabredung'' (The Appointment), Frankfurt am Main 1986 *

Régis Debray Jules Régis Debray (; born 2 September 1940) is a French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in h ...

: ''The Chilean Revolution'', Neuwied

t al. T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...

1972 *

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film '' Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) e ...

: ''The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas'', Frankfurt am Main 1963 *Marguerite Duras: ''Destroy, She Said'', Neuwied

1970 *

Jean 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 ...

: ''Simon'', Frankfurt am Main 1961 *

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ran ...

: ''Víctor Jara'', Frankfurt am Main 1976 * Søren Kierkegaard: ''Journals'', Cologne

1955 * Vizconde de Lascano Tegui: ''Von der Anmut im Schlafe'' (Of the Grace in Sleep), Berlin 1995 * Amedeo Modigliani: ''Modigliani'', Stuttgart 1961 (translated together with Silja Wendelstadt) *''Die Ostindienfahrer'' (The East Indian Traveler), Frankfurt am Main 1970 * Peter Ronild: Die Körper (The Heads), Frankfurt am Main 1971 * Monique Saint-Hélier: ''Die Weisen aus dem Morgenland'' (The Ways of the Morning Land), Frankfurt am Main 1958 * Ramón José Sender: ''Requiem für einen spanischen Landmann'' (Requiem for a Spanish Statesman), Frankfurt am Main 1964 *Ramón José Sender: ''Der Verschollene'' (The Missing), Frankfurt am Main 1961 *

: ''Evening Star'', Frankfurt am Main 1980 *Hjalmar Söderberg: Gertrud, Frankfurt am Main 1980 * Lope de Vega Carpio: ''Die Irren von Valencia'' (The Stray of Valencia), Frankfurt am Main 1967 *

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

: ''

Mrs. Dalloway ''Mrs. Dalloway'' is a novel by Virginia Woolf, published on 14 May 1925, that details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England. It is one of Woolf's best-known novels. The working ...

'', Frankfurt am Main 1997

External links

Literature by and on Walter Boehlich
in the Catalog of the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

Obituary
in the Jungle World {{DEFAULTSORT:Boehlich, Walter 1921 births 2006 deaths German literary critics German male journalists Journalists from Wrocław Heinrich Mann Prize winners People from the Province of Lower Silesia 20th-century German translators 20th-century German male writers 20th-century Polish journalists