Klaus Modick
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Klaus Modick (born 3 May 1951) is a German author and literary translator.


Education and early career

Klaus Modick was born in
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...
and completed his secondary education at the Altes Gymnasium there in 1971. He then attended
Hamburg University The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
, where he read German, History and Educational Theory, completing his teaching qualification in 1977. Modick then took a doctorate in 1980, with a thesis on the German-Jewish novelist and playwright
Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's Ju ...
. Modick spent five years as an advertising copywriter and worked as a part-time lecturer in German literature in the higher education sector before becoming a freelance writer and translator in 1984. In 1984 he married an American citizen he met during one of his frequent visits to Crete and they have two daughters. Modick has said that he feels a special affinity with Crete and its people and in 2003 he published the novel ''Der kretische Gast,'' set in 1943 during the German occupation of Crete''.''


Established writer

From 1986 to 1992 Modick wrote a monthly column on paperbacks for
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
and from 1997 to 2002 for
Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...
. He has held a number of guest lectureships in Germany, the US and Japan ( see below). He is a member of
PEN Centre Germany PEN Centre Germany is part of the worldwide association of writers founded in London in 1921, now known as PEN International. One of over 140 autonomous PEN centres around the world, PEN Centre Germany is based in Darmstadt, Hesse. Work PEN Ce ...
and has received numerous
awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...
. Modick returned to live in Oldenburg in 2000 after spending several years abroad, including a year in Rome and another in Paris and 'three to four years' in the USA. From 2000 to 2003 he was a member of the literary commission of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and the Arts, having previously received a number of awards from this body. Modick is also an essayist and literary critic and has published several volumes of non-fiction writings including ''Das Stellen der Schrift'', ''Milder Rausch'' and ''Ein Bild und tausend Worte''.


United States themes

Many of Modick's novels are concerned with German–American themes, for example, ''Die Schatten der Ideen,'' which tells the story of a German historian who emigrates to the US in 1935 and later finds himself swept up in the witch-hunts of the McCarthy Era. Other exile-themed novels include ''Sunset'', which tells of the friendship between
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 ...
and
Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's Ju ...
whilst in Los Angeles in the early 1940s. ''Sunset'' was nominated in 2011 for the
German Book Prize The German Book Prize (''Deutscher Buchpreis'') is awarded annually, in October, by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (''Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels'') to the best new German language novel of the year. The books, publ ...
and the
Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize The Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize () is a German literary award established in 2000 by the city of Braunschweig and the radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio. It is named after the 18th-century writer Wilhelm Raabe and is awarded for an individual ...
.


Work as a translator

As a literary translator Modick has translated numerous English-language works into German including works by
Aravind Adiga Aravind Adiga (born 23 October 1974) is an Indian writer and journalist. His debut novel, '' The White Tiger'', won the 2008 Man Booker Prize. Biography Early life and education Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai) on 23 October 197 ...
,
Sebastian Faulks Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – '' The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', ''Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pub ...
, William Gaddis,
William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...
,
Sudhir Kakar Sudhir Kakar (born 25 July 1938) is an Indian psychoanalyst, novelist and author in the fields of cultural psychology and the psychology of religion. Education and personal life Kakar spent his early childhood near Sargodha, now in Pakistan and ...
, Victor LaValle,
Andrew Motion Sir Andrew Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio reco ...
,
Jeffrey Moore Jeffrey Moore is a Canadian writer, translator and educator currently living in Val-Morin in the Quebec Laurentians. Moore was born in Montreal, and educated at the University of Toronto, BA, the Sorbonne and the University of Ottawa, MA. Nov ...
,
John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'Hara: Stories, Charles McGrath, ed., The L ...
,
Robert Olmstead Robert Olmstead (born January 3, 1954) is an American novelist and educator. Early life and education Olmstead was born in 1954 in Westmoreland, New Hampshire. He grew up on a farm. After high school, he enrolled at Davidson College with a foo ...
,
Matt Beynon Rees Matthew Beynon Rees is a Welsh novelist and journalist. He is the author of The Palestine Quartet, a series of crime novels about Omar Yussef, a Palestinian sleuth, and of historical novels and thrillers. He is the winner of a Crime Writers Ass ...
,
Charles Simmons Charles Simmons may refer to: *Charles Simmons (gymnast) (1885–1945), British gymnast who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics *Charles Simmons (author) (1924–2017), American editor and novelist *Charles Simmons (author, born 1798), American cl ...
,
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
and Nathanael West. Despite his high reputation in the German-speaking world and prolific output, Modick was not translated into English until 2020, when his novella
Moos Moos may refer to: People Surname * Alexandre Moos (born 1972), Swiss mountain biker * Bill Moos, American athletic director * Carl Moos (1878–1959), Swiss artist * Carolyn Moos (born 1978), American basketball player * David Moos (born 1965), ...
, translated by David Herman, was published under the title
Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
by Bellevue Literary Press, New York, NY. A number of his works have English titles, reflecting the time Modick spent in the US.


Bestseller

Modick's 2015 novel ''Konzert ohne Dichter'', which tells of the difficult relationship between artist Heinrich Vogeler and poet
Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
in 1905, became an almost immediate bestseller on publication. Modick has enjoyed great critical acclaim in the German-speaking world.


Selected works

* ''Moos'' (novella). Haffmans, Zürich 1984 * ''Moss'' (A novel). Translated by David Herman. Bellevue Literaray Press. New York. NY 2020 * ''Ins Blaue'' (novel). Machwerk, Siegen 1985 * ''Das Grau der Karolinen'' (novel). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1986 * ''Weg war weg: Romanverschnitt'' (novel). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1988, * ''Das Stellen der Schrift'' (essays). Affholderbach & Strohmann, Siegen 1988 * ''Die Schrift vom Speicher'' (novel). Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1991 * ''Der Schatten, den die Hand wirft'' (sonnets). Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1991 * ''Das Licht in den Steinen'' (novel). Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1992 * ''Der Flügel'' (novel). Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1994, * ''Das Kliff'' (novel). Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1995 * ''Der Mann im Mast'' (novel). Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1997, * ''Erste Lieben & andere Peinlichkeiten: Oldenburger Geschichten'' (short stories). Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 1997, * ''Milder Rausch'' (essays and portraits). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1999 * ''Vierundzwanzig Türen'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2000 * ''September Song'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2002 * ''Der kretische Gast'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2003, * ''Vatertagebuch'', Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2005, * ''Bestseller'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2006, * ''Die Schatten der Ideen'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2008, * ''Krumme Touren'' (short stories). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2010 * ''Sunset'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2011, * ''Klack'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2013, * ''Konzert ohne Dichter'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2015, * ''Ein Bild und tausend Worte. Die Entstehungsgeschichte von "Konzert ohne Dichter" und andere Essays'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2016, * ''Keyserlings Geheimnis'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2018,


Awards

Source: * 1986 Hamburger Literaturförderpreis * 1989 Art Prize (Literature) Lower Saxony * 1990/91 Stipendium of the Villa Massimo, Rom * 1993/94 Stipendium of the Cité internationale des arts, Paris * 1994 Bettina-von-Arnim-Preis * 1996 Writer in Residence, University of Poitiers * 1998 Annual Stipendium in Literature, Lower Saxony * 2000 Märkischer Autorenpreis * 2005 Nicolas Born Prize * 2006 Elba-Stipendium Thyll-Dürr-Stiftung * 2007/08 Stipendium Deutscher Literaturfonds * 2009 Stipendium Villa Aurora / Los Angeles * 2012 Writer in residence, Heinrich-Böll-Cottage,
Achill Island Achill Island (; ga, Acaill, Oileán Acla) in County Mayo is the largest of the Irish isles, and is situated off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It has a population of 2,594. Its area is . Achill is attached to the mainland by ...
, Ireland * 2013 Stipendium Deutscher Literaturfonds * 2015 Rheingau Literatur Preis for ''Konzert ohne Dichter'' * 2015 Poet in residence, University of Duisburg-Essen * 2020
Hannelore Greve Literature Prize The Hannelore Greve Literature Prize honors outstanding achievements in the field of German-language literature. The Hamburg Authors' Association has been awarding the Hannelore Greve Literature Prize every two years since 2004, alternating annuall ...


Guest lectureships

Source: * 1992 Writer in Residence, Keio-University, Tokyo * 1994 to 2005 Guest professor, Middlebury College, Vermont/US * 1995 Guest professor, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire/US * 1996 to 2002 Lecturer in Poetry, Creative Writing, University of Bielefeld * 1996 Writer in Residence, Allegheny College, Pennsylvania/US * 1998 to 1999 Guest professor, German Literature Institute Leipzig


Works about Modick (in German)

* David-Christopher Assmann & Eva Geulen: ''Zur gesellschaftlichen Lage der Literatur (mit einer Fallstudie zu Klaus Modick)'', in: WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 9 (2012), Vol. 2, pp. 18–46. * Dirk Frank: ''Narrative Gedankenspiele. Der metafiktionale Roman zwischen Modernismus und Postmodernismus''. Wiesbaden 2001. * Sabine Jambon: ''Moos, Störfall und abruptes Ende'', Düsseldorf 1999 * ''Von Lust und Last literarischen Schreibens. Ein Blick in die Werkstatt deutscher Scriftsteller''. Klaus Modick and Helmut Mörchen, Eichborn 2001 * Helmut Mörchen: ''Klaus Modick – ein Gegenwartsautor, den man kennen sollte''. Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Volume 5/2011. * Josua Novak: ''Der postmoderne komische Roman''. Marburg 2009. * Harry Nutt: ''Tiefbohrungen ins Blaue. Über den Schriftsteller Klaus Modick''. Merkur 11/1988. * Janina Richts: ''Inszenierungen von Autor-Kritiker-Verhältnissen in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur''. München 2009. * Ralf Schnell: ''Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Literatur seit 1945''. Stuttgart 2005. * Bernd Stenzig: ''Rilke und Vogeler: Irreführungen in Klaus Modicks "Konzert ohne Dichter"''. Karl-Robert Schütze, Berlin 2015, * Hubert Winkels: ''Postmoderne leicht gemacht – Klaus Modick und die Rückkehr der Familie''. In: Hubert Winkels: ''Kann man Bücher lieben?'' Köln 2010. * Dieter Wrobel: ''Postmodernes Chaos – Chaotische Postmoderne. Eine Studie zu Analogien zwischen Chaostheorie und deutschsprachiger Prosa der Postmoderne''. Bielefeld 1998.


References


External links


An interview in German with Modick about his life & work:

A brief biography:


* ttp://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/von-roman-zu-roman.1153.de.html?dram:article_id=182464 A transcribed interview in German with Klaus Modick, dated 03/05/2011: {{DEFAULTSORT:Modick, Klaus 1951 births Living people German-language writers German translators