Helga Königsdorf (13 July 1938 – 4 May 2014) was an East German statistician and novelist. She is notable for becoming distinguished in two distinct careers - science and literature.
She wrote three books on mathematics, two co-written with her husband Olaf Bunke, who outlived her by seven years, and thirteen literary books of her own.
''My Indecent Dreams'', her first collection of short stories, was published at the age of 40.
''Fission'' is her best-known novel. Königsdorf died of
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
in 2014 at the age of 75.
Early life
Helga Königsdorf was born a farmer's daughter in
Gera
Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...
, Saxony. After studying physics, she went into academia and married Olaf Bunke, mathematician and statistician of
Humboldt University
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...
. They wrote several books on statistics together, published in English as part of the Wiley Series on Probability and Statistics.
Career
Known as Professor Helga Bunke, she was appointed as Director of the East Berlin Academy of Sciences of the
GDR
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
from 1961 to 1990. She was involved in founding the International Summer Schools on Mathematical Statistics. From 1974, she headed the Department of Probability and Mathematical Statistics.
Writing
At age 40, Königsdorf published her first short-story collection under her maiden name, titled ''Meine ungehörigen Träume'' (''My Indecent Dreams'').
Her writing peers included
Christa Wolf
Christa Wolf (; Ihlenfeld; 18 March 1929 – 1 December 2011) was a German novelist and essayist. She is considered one of the most important writers to emerge from the former East Germany.Brigitte Reimann and Maxie Wander, leading feminist writers in the GDR during the 1970s and 1980s.
Much of her writing was autobiographical.
In 1990 she left science to devote herself to literature full-time and by this time she was already internationally known as a leading East German writer. Königsdorf lived with Parkinson's disease for more than 30 years.
Awards
*1985
Heinrich Mann Prize
The Heinrich Mann Prize () is an essay prize that has been awarded since 1953, first by the East German Academy of Arts, then by the Academy of Arts, Berlin. The prize, which comes with a €10,000 purse, is given annually on 27 March, Heinrich ...
*1992
Roswitha Prize
The Roswitha Prize () is the oldest German language prize for literature that is given solely to women.
The Roswitha-Medal has been given almost yearly since 1973 by the city of Bad Gandersheim.
In 1998 it received its modern designation along wi ...
Works
Fiction
*''Meine ungehörigen Träume'' (short stories, 1978), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Der Lauf der Dinge'' (short stories, 1982), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Respektloser Umgang'' (short stories, 1986), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Lichtverhältnisse'' (short stories, 1988), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Ungelegener Befund'' (short stories, 1990), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Adieu DDR'' (memoir, 1990)
*''Gleich neben Afrika'' (short stories, 1992), Rowohlt Berlin Verlag
*''Im Schatten des Regenbogens'' (novel, 1993), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Über die unverzügliche Rettung der Welt'' (essays, 1994), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Die Entsorgung der Großmutter'' (novel, 1997), Aufbau-Verlag
*''Landschaft in wechselndem Licht'' (memoir, 2002), Aufbau-Verlag
Short stories
* Bolero (1978)
* Thunderstorm
Math
*Helga Bunke: ''Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen mit zufälligen Parametern''. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1972.
*Olaf Bunke, Helga Bunke (Hrsg.): ''Statistical methods of model building''. Berlin 1986.
*Olaf Bunke, Helga Bunke (Hrsg.): ''Nonlinear regression, functional relations and robust methods''. 2 Bände, New York 1989.
English translations
Few of her fiction works have been translated into English. ''Fission'' (''Hydra'' in the original) was published in 2000 by
Northwestern University Press
Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of continental philosophy, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticis ...
, translated by Susan H. Gillespie, director of the Institute for International Liberal education at
Bard College
Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...
.
''Three Political Essays and Two Further Essays'' translated by Brian Keenan in 2013 for the University of Texas at Austin.