Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...

and

Georg Trakl Georg Trakl (3 February 1887 – 3 November 1914) was an Austrian poet and the brother of the pianist Grete Trakl. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. He is perhaps best known for his poem " Grodek", which he wr ...

. He taught at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

, the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, as founding rector of the

University of Bremen The University of Bremen (German: ''Universität Bremen'') is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 23,500 people from 115 countries. It is one of 11 institutions which were successful in the category "Institutional Strategi ...

, as

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

. He became known as editor of literary encyclopedias, the ''

Killy Literaturlexikon The ''Killy Literaturlexikon - Autoren und Werke des deutschsprachigen Kulturraumes'' is an author's lexicon of German language literature. The latest edition of twelve volumes was published between 2008 and September 2011 by De Gruyter. A registe ...

'' and the ''

Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie The ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie'' (''DBE'') is a biographical dictionary published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (from the third to fourth volume), the first edition of which was published from 1995 to 2003 in 13 volumes by K. G ...

''.

Life

Killy was born in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, the son of the lawyer . He studied German, and wrote his doctoral thesis ''Die Überlieferung der Gedichte Hölderlins'', about the tradition of poems by

, with

Julius Petersen Julius Peter Christian Petersen (16 June 1839, Sorø, West Zealand – 5 August 1910, Copenhagen) was a Danish mathematician. His contributions to the field of mathematics led to the birth of graph theory. Biography Petersen's interests i ...

in 1940. Killy and his father encouraged Petersen and in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

to produce a historical-critical edition of Hölderlin's works, planned to appear in time for the Hölderlin anniversary year 1943. Since Hölderlin was held in high esteem during the Nazi era, this undertaking received broad official support. When Killy returned from being a prisoner of war in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, he received his doctorate from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen on 19 March 1948 with a dissertation entitled ''Bild und Mythe in Hölderlin's Poems'' (Image and myth in Hölderlin's poems). Three years later, he received 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 ...

at the

(FU) with a

textual critic Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of Hölderlin's novel '' Hyperion''. In 1955, Killy was appointed professor for

German Studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

at the FU. He moved to the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in 1961. Elected as its rector for the academic year 1967/68, he lectured about poems by the young

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

in his Rector's speech. In 1966, he was elected a member of the

Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen A German Akademie is a school or college, trade school or another educational institution. The word Akademie (unlike the words Gymnasium or Universität) is not protected by law and any school or college may choose to call itself Akademie. A Somm ...

.Holger Krahnke: ''Die Mitglieder der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 1751–2001'' (''Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse.'' Folge 3, vol. 246 ''Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse.'' Folge 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, , . From 1968 to 1970, he was chairman of the founding committee of the

(founding rector). He was a

at the

and at

in 1969. In 1971, he moved to the

. From 1978 to 1985, he was director of the research program of the

Herzog August Bibliothek The Herzog August Library (german: link=no, Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as ''Bibliotheca Augusta'', is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and ear ...

in Wolfenbüttel. He was a member of the 1979. He was awarded the Niedersachsenpreis for journalism in 1983, and the

Sigmund Freud Prize The Sigmund Freud Prize or Sigmund Freud Prize for Academic Prose (German ''Sigmund Freud-Preis für wissenschaftliche Prosa'') is a German literary award named after Sigmund Freud and awarded by the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (Ge ...

for academic prose in 1990. Killy died at the age of 78 in Kampen,

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

. In 1996, the library of the

Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg () (''OvGU'') was founded in 1993, making it one of the youngest universities in Germany. The university is located in Magdeburg, the Capital city of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 13.000 students in nine ...

acquired the Killy's private library. The unique collection contains 6414 titles from the publication years 1557 to 1995. Part of the Killy Library is one of the most valuable

Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, U ...

collections in Europe with many dedicatory copies, and a copy of the 1698 first edition of ''Poetische Wälder'' by . All publications of this library are available in the catalogue of the university library.

Publisher

Killy was editor of many compendia and anthologies as well as initiator and organiser of encyclopaedias, including Bertelsmann's ''Literaturlexikon'' (Literary Encyclopedia), known as "Der Killy". Since 2008, a completely revised new edition has been published by

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

. Killy was also a contributor to the ''Stuttgart Hölderlin Edition'' edited by Friedrich Beißner and co-editor of the works of

Publications

* ''Erinnerungen an Frankreich in den Kriegsjahren 1942-44'' / Walther Killy; Anton Lüpkes; Wilhelmine Siefkes (typed manuscript) * ''Über des späteren Hölderlin Ansicht von der Geschichte''. (manuscript). Trinidad (Colorado) 1945 * ''Bild und Mythe in Hölderlins Gedichten''. (dissertation, typed). Tübingen 1948 * ''Studium Generale und studentisches Gemeinschaftsleben. Ein Bericht erstattet unter Benutzung örtlicher Erhebungen von Rolf Hildebrandt und Hans Lades.'' Berlin, Duncker & Humblot 1952 * ''Wandlungen des lyrischen Bildes''. Göttingen:

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (V&R) is a scholarly publishing house based in Göttingen, Germany. It was founded in 1735 by (1700-1750) in connection with the establishment of the Georg-August-Universität in the same city. After Abraham Vandenhoec ...

, 1956 (late edition: ). * ''Über Georg Trakl''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1960 * ''Deutscher Kitsch. Ein Versuch mit Beispielen''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961 (late edition: ). * ''Wirklichkeit und Kunstcharakter. 9 Romane des 19. Jahrhunderts''. Munich: Beck, 1963 * ''Über Gedichte des jungen Brecht''. Rektoratsrede. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967 * ''Bildungsfragen''. Munich: Beck, 1971. * ''Elemente der Lyrik''. 2nd revised edition. Munich: Beck, 1972, irst edition 1972; new edition: Munich, 1983, ref name="Spiegel" /> * ''Schreibweisen – Leseweisen'' Munich: Beck, 1982. * ''Von Berlin bis Wandsbek. Zwölf Kapitel deutscher Bürgerkultur um 1800''. Munich: Beck, 1996. . Editor * ''Zeichen der Zeit. Ein deutsches Lesebuch in 4 Bänden''. Frankfurt; Hamburg: Fischer Bücherei, 1958–1962 * With : ''Das Fischer-Lexikon''. Part 34: Literatur 1. Frankfurt: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl., 1964. * With Hans Szklenar: ''Georg Trakl: Dichtungen und Briefe''. Salzburg: O. Müller, 1970 * ''Deutsches Lesebuch: Ein Lesebuch in 5 Bänden.'' Frankfurt, Hamburg: Fischer-Bücherei, 1970 * ''Epochen der deutschen Lyrik'' (10 volumes). Munich, 1974–1977 * ''Die deutsche Literatur. Texte und Zeugnisse'' (7 volumes). Munich: Beck, 1967–1988 * ''Literaturlexikon. Autoren und Werke deutscher Sprache'' (15 volumes). Gütersloh, Munich: Bertelsmann-Lexikon-Verlag, 1988–1991 (CD-ROM: Berlin 1998, ) * With

Rudolf Vierhaus Rudolf Vierhaus (29 October 1922 – 13 November 2011) was a German historian who mainly researched the Early modern period. He had been a professor at the newly founded Ruhr University Bochum since 1964. From 1971, he was director of the in Göt ...

from vol. 4: ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie.'' 13 volumes, Munich Saur, 1995–2003.

References

External links

*
Killy Nachlass
Library of the

University of Magdeburg The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg () (''OvGU'') was founded in 1993, making it one of the youngest universities in Germany. The university is located in Magdeburg, the Capital city of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 13.000 students in nine ...

Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie
bsz-bw.de
Killy /Literaturlexikon
(in German) lehmanns.de 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Killy, Walther Literary scholars Germanists German literary criticism German editors German encyclopedists Free University of Berlin faculty University of Bern faculty Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1917 births 1995 deaths Writers from Bonn

Life

Publisher

Publications

References

Further reading

External links