Axel Monte

Axel Monte (born November 29, 1962 in Gelsenkirchen ; † August 16, 2016 in Munich ) was a German translator, author , publisher, ethnologist and a PhD in cultural studies .

life and work

Axel Monte was born in Gelsenkirchen in 1962 and grew up in Bremerhaven . Axel Monte graduated from high school there in 1982. After three semesters of studying Protestant theology at what was then the Bethel University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld from 1982 to 1984 and his civilian service, he studied Ethnology and Indology at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University from 1986 with a master’s degree in 1992. He then obtained his doctorate in cultural studies . phil. (1995) at the University of Bremen .

From 1998 to 2000, he worked for three years at the Volkskundeinstitut Institute for Low German Language in Bremen , where Axel Monte worked on setting up a digital press archive. Since 2000 he has been working as a freelance translator, editor, author and ethnologist.

Axel Monte has translated, among others, Charles Dickens , Will Eisner , Larry Law, Emin Lelić, Rumi , Khushwant Singh , Flora Annie Steel, Robert Louis Stevenson , John Updike and Virginia Woolf . In 2014 he received the translation grant of the Free State of Bavaria for his translation of William Butler Yeats ' esoteric Monolith A Vision (Eng. A Vision ) . For the German-speaking world, Monte developed in particular the writings of the professional burglar and hobo Jack Black (1868 to 1933), whose autobiography You Cant't Win (1926; Eng . You can't get through , 1998) William S. Burroughs as a blueprint for his debut Junkie (1953) and who gave lasting inspiration to the genre of true crime stories .

Monte lived in Cologne for many years, and from 2007 in Munich. 2008 marriage to Verena Nolte. From 2009 he published the series Books Ex Oriente , in which titles by authors such as Jack Black, Ira Cohen , James S. Cutsinger, Paul B. Fenton , Muhammad Iqbal , DH Lawrence , Veronika Ronge and Rabindranath Tagore appeared. The exquisite small publisher continued the program, whose culture-connecting horizon Monte had already torn up in the CopyArt magazine RUDE LOOK or RUDE LOOK ORIENTAL . This appeared sporadically, edited by himself, from 1994 to 2005 in eleven completely individually designed numbers. The first issues appeared as plaquettes, others as glued Xerox frets, the last two issues, the RUDE LOOK ORIENTAL issues, as magazines in Heinz Wohlers Verlag, always in small editions. Co-editors were temporarily Thomas Stemmer, Frank Bröker and Florian Vetsch . Monte published articles by Mohammed Bennis, Ira Cohen, Hadayatullah Hübsch , June Jordan, Johanna Lier, Thomas Nöske , Jürgen in the handmade international culture zine (for) poetry, prose, essays, artwork ( RUDE LOOK No. 6, Bad Bederkesa 1998) Ploog , SAID, Joachim Sartorius and many more

Axel Monte, who as editor and interpreter recorded the heights of the canon as well as the depths of the underground, was an astute editor and author of artistic meso engravings . In exchange with the German cut-up author Jürgen Ploog SPRACHE IS A VIRUS (Po Em Press, Pentling 2003) and in exchange with the beat imam Hadayatullah Hübsch ASPHALT DERVISCH (Heinz Wohlers, Harrlach 2007).

A few months before he passed away after a serious illness on August 16, 2016, Axel Montes' novella TRESPASS CITY (Stadtlichter Presse, Wenzendorf 2016), in which he describes his working motto Carpe noctem! revealed when he talks about the “brotherhood of writers”: “They meet at night. Everyone then pursues their own passion, united by the urge to write. It comes to the fore in life. Everything else becomes less important. The initiates have patience. You can wait. All day long. They let the distractions take their course. Until they fizzle out. The initiates can wait. All evening. Late into the night. You know: the time will inevitably come when there will be no more distractions. Since all the work is done. Since all activities are exhausted. The writer's kairos ! Then, driven by desire, the creativity that has been pent up all day discharges. Until the mind and body are forced to stop by utter exhaustion. Not sooner. For this, for this phase in the depth of the night, every member of the brotherhood lives. If you walk through the streets of the city before dawn and see the lit oil lamps behind the windows of the roof and basement houses , then you can be sure that one of us works there! Carpe noctem! "

In its September 15, 2016 issue of the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Antje Weber's praise for this productive translator and innovative publisher. The literature portal Bavaria published its obituary for Axel Monte under the title Carpe noctem! Little Mags DRECKSACK (Berlin, October 2016), PhoBi (Munich, October 2017) and MAULhURE (Dortmund, February 2018) each dedicated a number to him in memory.

Grants and grants

• 2012 Funded by the Society of Friends of Islamic Art and Culture , Munich, and the Mittelsten Scheid Foundation , for the book by the author Muhammad Iqbal Streunendeuden , Books Ex Oriente
• 2012 Funded by ARS & VITA Society for the Promotion of Cultural Communication , Munich, for the work of Rabindranath Tagore The Nobel Prize Speech , Books Ex Oriente
• 2014 Promotion Translation Grant from Ireland Literature Exchange for A Vision by William Butler Yeats, Alfred Kröner Verlag , Stuttgart
• 2014 scholarship from the German Literature Fund
• 2014 The translation grant from the Free State of Bavaria

Translations (selection)

• Jack Black You won't get through (from the American by Axel Monte and Thomas Stemmer), Karin Kramer Verlag, Berlin, 1998
• DH Lawrence Apocalypse , Patmos, 2000
• Desmond Tutu No future without reconciliation , Patmos, 2001 (with Thorsten Nesch)
• Lou Marinoff Sokrates' Couch , Patmos, 2000 (with Hubert Pfau; 2002 for dtv as paperback)
• Elazar Barkan Peoples Indict , Patmos, 2002
• Muhammad Iqbal The Revival of Religious Thought in Islam (with Thomas Stemmer), Verlag Hans Schiler, Berlin, 2003
• DH Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lovers , Artemis and Winkler, 2004; dtv paperback 2008; Reader's Digest, Masterpieces of World Literature, 2020
• Tobias Daniel Wabbel (ed.) In the beginning was (k) ein Gott , Patmos, 2004 (with Claudia Krülls-Hepermann)
• Robert Louis Stevenson A Passionate Emigrant , Manesse, 2005
• Rabindranath Tagore Sadhana , Artemis and Winkler, 2005, in: R. Tagore Das Goldene Boot
• Rabindranath Tagore Indian Wisdom , OW Barth, 2006 (2009, 2011 Fischer paperback)
• Flora Annie Steel Princess Aubergine - Fairy Tales from the Punjab , Manesse, Zurich, 2006
• Mohammed. The wisdom of the prophet. Suras from the Koran , Anaconda, 2007 (editing and editing of the translation by Friedrich Rückert )
• Jack Black The Great Escape from Folsom Prison (from the American by Axel Monte and Jerk Götterwind), Killroy Media, Asperg, 2008
• Jalal-ad-Din-Rumi Rumi - With oriental wisdom through the year , OW Barth, 2008 (with Jila Sohrabi and Kaveh Dalir Azar)
• Khushwant Singh train to Pakistan , Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M., 2008
• Paul B. Fenton Jewish and Islamic Mysticism , Books Ex Oriente, 2010
• Jack Black Law Book and crooks honor , Books Ex Oriente, 2011 (from the American by Axel Monte and Florian Vetsch; with an afterword by Jürgen Ploog)
• Charles Dickens Oliver Twist or The Career of a Boy from the Poor House , Reclam Library, Stuttgart, 2011
• Charles Dickens Oliver Twist (Abridged Edition), Reclam Fremdsprachentexte, editor and editor, 2012
• Muhammad Iqbal Stray Thoughts (with an introduction by Javid Iqbal and an afterword by Christina Osterfeld), Books Ex Oriente, Munich, 2012
• Rabindranath Tagore The Nobel Prize Speech , Books Ex Oriente, Munich, 2012
• Virginia Woolf A room to yourself , Reclam, Stuttgart, 2012
• Rabindranath Tagore Gitanjali. Prayers, songs and poems . With a foreword by William Butler Yeats. Anaconda, 2013
• William Butler Yeats A Vision , Kröner, Stuttgart, 2014
• Larry Law The true story of Captain Mission and the Republic of Libertatia (with an afterword by Marvin Chlada), Trikont, Duisburg, 2015
• Emin Leliç The Rûmî recitors from Sarajevo , daycare centers, Klagenfurt / Vienna, 2015
• Eisner, Will Ich bin Fagin - The Untold Story from OLIVER TWIST , Egmont, Cologne, 2015
• Jack Black In prison and on the run (from the American by Axel Monte and Jerk Götterwind), Trikont Verlag, Duisburg, 2016

Own works (selection)

• Antonio de Nebrija: unknown conquistador of an old continent , in: Kaltland Beat , Ithaka, Stuttgart, 1999
• Manifestos - a slap in the face for the public taste: A stroll through the avant-garde of the times (with Thomas Stemmer), in: Kaltland Beat , Ithaka, Stuttgart, 1999
• Writing Through Howl - Eight Mesostics , in: Allen Ginsberg, Der Sanitäter No. 9, Peter Engstler, Ostheim / Rhön, 2002
• Language is a Virus , Po Em Press, 2003 (with Jürgen Ploog)
• Transatlantic accomplices , in: Ploog Tanker - Texts by & zu Jürgen Ploog , Rohstoff, Herdecke, 2004
• Mesostitches from the International Zone , in: Tanger Telegram - Journey through the literatures of a legendary Moroccan city , Bilgerverlag, Zurich, 2004/2017
• Asphalt Dervish , Heinz Wohlers Verlag, 2007 (with Hadayatullah Hübsch )
• Notes on Soma , in: Das Pilze-Alphabet , Edition Sacré, Ricco Bilger , Zurich 2014
• About Jews, Negroes and Translators - Political Correctness or Cultural Politeness as a tightrope walk , in: aviso - Journal for Science and Art in Bavaria No. 2/2016, Munich 2016
• Trespass City , Stadtlichter Presse , Wenzendorf 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ TRESPASS CITY audio book by Axel Monte , read by Christian C. Kruse and Lars Sinda
2. ↑ Carpe noctem! , Farewell to Dr. Axel Monte (1962-2016). An obituary, literature portal Bavaria