Uwe Timm
Timm (2013)
Timm (2013)
Born (1940-03-30) 30 March 1940
Hamburg, Germany
OccupationWriter
EducationPhD in German literature
Alma materLudwig Maximilian University of Munich
Period1971–present
Notable worksAm Beispiel meines Bruders, Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel,
Notable awardsHeinrich-Böll-Preis
2009
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
1990
SpouseDagmar Ploetz
Childrenfour, each of them is dedicated with one novel

Uwe Timm (German pronunciation: [ˈuːvə tɪm] ⓘ; born 30 March 1940 in Hamburg) is a German writer.

Life and work

Uwe Timm was born in 1940 in Hamburg, and was the youngest son in his family. His brother, 16 years his senior, was a soldier in the Waffen SS and died in Ukraine in 1943. Decades later, Uwe Timm dealt with his relationship with his father and brother in the critically acclaimed novel In My Brother's Shadow.

After working as a furrier, Timm studied Philosophy and German in Munich and Paris, achieving a PhD in German literature in 1971 with his thesis The Problem of Absurdity in the Works of Albert Camus. During his studies, Timm was engaged in leftist activities of the 1960s. He became a member of the Socialist German Student Union and was associated with Benno Ohnesorg. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of the German Communist Party. Three times Timm was appointed writer-in-residence at universities in English-speaking countries: in 1981 at the University of Warwick, in 1994 at Swansea, and in 1997 at Washington University in St. Louis. He has also been a lecturer at universities in Paderborn, Darmstadt, Lüneburg, and Frankfurt.

Timm started publishing in the early 1970s and became known to a larger audience in Germany after one of his children's books, Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel, was turned into the movie Rudy, the Racing Pig (1995). Today he is one of the most successful contemporary authors in Germany. His books Die Entdeckung der Currywurst (The Invention of Curried Sausage) and Am Beispiel meines Bruders (In My Brother's Shadow, or literally: "By My Brother's Example") can both be found in the syllabi of German schools. His readers usually appreciate Timm's writing style, which he himself calls "die Ästhetik des Alltags" ("the aesthetics of everyday life").[1] Timm uses everyday vocabulary and simple sentences and generally tries to imitate the way stories are orally told. His works often indirectly connect with each other by taking a minor character from one story and making this character the main character of another work. For example, a minor character like Frau Brücker from Johannisnacht becomes a main character in Die Entdeckung der Currywurst. Timm's works also tend to have autobiographical features and often deal with, or are set in, the German past.[2]

Awards

Bibliography

  • Widersprüche, Poems (1971)
  • Heißer Sommer (1974)
  • Wolfenbüttlerstr. 57, Poems (1977)
  • Morenga (1978)
  • Kerbels Flucht (1980)
  • Die deutschen Kolonien, Photo book (1981)
  • Die Zugmaus, Children's book (1981)
  • Die Piratenamsel, Children's book (1983)
  • Der Mann auf dem Hochrad (1984)
  • Der Schlangenbaum (1986)
  • Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel, Children's book (1989)
  • Vogel, friss die Feige nicht (1989)
  • Der Kopfjäger (1991)
  • Die Piratenamsel, Children's book (1991)
  • Erzählen und kein Ende, A collection of speeches (1993)
  • Die Entdeckung der Currywurst (1993)
  • Der Schatz auf Pagensand (1995)
  • Johannisnacht (1996)
  • Nicht morgen, nicht gestern, Short stories (1999)
  • Rot, novel (2001), awarded the 2003 Schubart-Literaturpreis[5]
  • Am Beispiel meines Bruders (2003)
  • Der Freund und der Fremde (2005)
  • Halbschatten (2008)
  • Freitisch (2011)
  • Vogelweide (2013)
  • Ikarien (2017)

English translations

References

  1. ↑ Erzählen und kein Ende, A collection of speeches (1993)
  2. ↑ Hanjo Kersting, Axel Ruckaberle: "Uwe Timm", Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur (KLG), Köln 2004.
  3. ↑ "Preistraeger des Bayerischen Filmpreises" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "Uwe Timm erhält Hamburger Lessing-Preis". hamburg.de (in German). 10 November 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  5. ↑ City of Aalen. Schubart-Literaturpreis winners Archived 4 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 October 2012. (in German)
  • David Basker: Uwe Timm, Cardiff 1999 (Contemporary German Writers).
  • Hanjo Kersting, Axel Ruckaberle: "Uwe Timm", Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur (KLG), Köln 2004.
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