Sten Nadolny (; born 29 July 1942, in

Zehdenick Zehdenick is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Havel, southeast of Fürstenberg/Havel, and north of Berlin (centre). Since 31 July 2013, the city has the additional appellation "Havelstadt". ...

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...

) is a German

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

. His parents, Burkhard and Isabella Nadolny, were also writers.

Biography

Nadolny grew up in the town of

Traunstein Traunstein (Central Bavarian: ''Traunstoa'') is a town in the south-eastern part of Bavaria, Germany, and is the administrative center of a much larger district of the same name. The town serves as a local government, retail, health services, ...

, in

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

. After receiving his ''Abitur'', he studied history and political science in Munich, Göttingen, Tübingen and Berlin. Nadolny received his PhD in 1976 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 ...

. His dissertation was on German disarmament diplomacy at the 1932/33 Geneva Conference, shortly before Hitler came to power. Nadolny's grandfather, Rudolf Nadolny, had led the German delegation. Nadolny worked for about a year as a history teacher before entering the film industry as a production manager, an experience he wrote about in his first novel, the semi-autobiographical ''Netzkarte''. He currently lives in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Literary works

Nadolny's first novel, ''Netzkarte'', was published in 1981. Originally, it was written as a script for a film that was never realized. It details the adventures of a young man named Ole Reuter, who purchases a "Netzkarte", or ticket that allows him to travel by train throughout (then West) Germany. Nadolny revisits the character of Ole Reuter in a sequel, ''Er oder Ich'' ("Him or Me"), published in 1999. His best known work is '' The Discovery of Slowness'' (1987; originally published in 1983 as ''Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit''), a fictionalized meditation on the life and lessons of British Arctic explorer Sir

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

. A pre-publication portion of the novel titled ''Kopenhagen 1801'' (which would become the fifth chapter) had earned Nadolny the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 1980.

Bibliography

* 1978: ''Abrüstungsdiplomatie 1932/33: Deutschland auf der Genfer Konferenz im Ubergang von Weimar zu Hitler''. Tuduv-Studien, Munich. * 1981: ''Netzkarte.'' List, Munich. * 1983: '' Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit.'' Piper, Munich. ('' The Discovery of Slowness'', Viking, 1987) * 1990: ''Selim oder Die Gabe der Rede.'' Piper, Munich. * 1990: ''Das Erzählen und die guten Absichten: Münchner Poetikvorlesungen im Sommer 1990.'' Piper, Munich. * 1994: ''Ein Gott der Frechheit.'' Piper, Munich. (''God of Impertinence'', Viking 1997) * 1999: ''Er oder ich: Roman.'' Piper, Munich. * 2001: ''Das Erzählen und die guten Ideen: die Göttinger und Münchener Poetik-Vorlesungen.'' Piper, Munich. * 2003: ''Ullsteinroman.'' Ullstein, Munich. * 2004: ''Deutsche Gestalten.'' (together with Hartmut von Hentig (Eds.)) dtv, Munich. * 2009: ''Putz- und Flickstunde. Zwei Kalte Krieger erinnern sich.'' (together with Jens Sparschuh) Piper, Munich. * 2012: ''Weitlings Sommerfrische.'' Piper, Munich. * 2017: ''Das Glück des Zauberers.'' Piper, Munich. (''The Joy of Sorcery'', Paul Dry Books, Philadelphia 2020)

Awards

* 1980:

Ingeborg Bachmann Prize The Festival of German-Language Literature (german: Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur, links=no) is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of ...

* 1985:

Hans Fallada Prize The Hans Fallada Prize is a German literary prize given by the city of Neumünster in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Since 1981 it typically awarded every two years to a young author from the German-speaking world. It is named in honor o ...

* 1986: Premio Vallombrosa * 1995: Ernst Hoferichter Prize * 2004:

Jakob-Wassermann-Literaturpreis Jakob-Wassermann-Literaturpreis is a Bavarian literary prize. It is granted in honour to the famous German-Jewish writer Jakob Wassermann by the city of Fürth (near Nuremberg) and comes with a donation of 10.000 Euros. The prize was established i ...

* 2005:

Mainzer Stadtschreiber The Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award. It is awarded by ZDF, 3sat and the city of Mainz and was founded in 1984. The award is endowed with €12,500. Additionally the laureate receives the right to l ...

* 2010: Weilheimer Literature Prize

References

External links

* Robert Macfarlane,
Read it on the autobahn
" Review of ''The Discovery of Slowness'', ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 25 No. 24 · 18 December 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nadolny, Sten 1942 births Living people People from Zehdenick 20th-century German novelists 21st-century German novelists People from the Province of Brandenburg Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winners German male novelists 20th-century German male writers 21st-century German male writers