Edda Rönckendorff

Edda Rönckendorff (born October 15, 1924 in Munich , † November 22, 1989 in Essen ) was a German writer, translator and publisher's editor.

Life

Edda Rönckendorff grew up near Lake Constance and in Nuremberg. In 1942 she finished her schooling with the Abitur in Karlsbad (today Karlovy Vary) and then began to study Thai and Chinese at the University of Berlin at the Institute for Foreign Studies with the aim of becoming a diplomat. After the war-related cessation of teaching, she experienced the end of the war with her parents in Karlsbad and then fled to Bad Harzburg. She worked there for the British occupation forces and in 1946 moved to the department for the issuing of printing, newspaper and publishing licenses for the British in Hamburg. Since 1947 she worked as one of the first employees after the end of the Second World War at Rowohlt Verlag in Hamburg in the author support department. In this function she supported Kurt W. Marek (CW Ceram) with his world bestseller Gods, Graves and Scholars .

In 1951 Edda Rönckendorff married the Essen lawyer and notary Helmut Janus. Her employment at Rowohlt Verlag ended, she moved to Essen and since then has worked as a freelance translator, editor and author.

In addition to translations and a. For the Rowohlt Verlag, an independent oeuvre of fiction was created in the 1950s . Under the pseudonyms "Edda Janson" and "Felix Voss" she published short stories , glosses and columnist in daily newspapers and women's magazines such as Constanze, Für Sie und Brigitte.

In the mid-1960s, Edda Rönckendorff intensified her activities and worked primarily as a translator from English and American for u. a. the publishers Rowohlt, Scherz and European publishing house EVA. She has translated works by Agatha Christie, Arthur Miller, Harry Kemelman, John Trenhaile, and others. v. a. The translations appeared under her real name, Edda Janus. As a lecturer, she examined foreign books for their publishers for their suitability for the German-speaking market.

From 1980 Edda Rönckendorff appeared under her maiden name as a novelist at Scherz Verlag in Bern. Her first novel " Tell me a new word for love " was very successful on the book market. This was followed by the novel “ Die Enkelin ”, a family story from the imperial era to post-war Germany, which stayed on the bestseller list for a long time and reached six-figure sales. The following two novels, " Memory " and " Drive to Leopoldsbad ", have strong autobiographical traits in that the former deals with the subject of death / disappearance of a relative after the death of her husband Helmut Janus and the latter with the war experience of young people in the Sudetenland and their return there in later life. This was followed by the novels “ A Family Reunion ” from the theater environment and with “ Der Nebelmann ” another romance novel. The literary work is supplemented by the two volumes of short stories " Witches have it hard today " and (posthumously) " Glück im Winkel ".

In her short creative phase as a novelist from 1980 to 1989, Edda Rönckendorff was one of the most widely read and sold German writers.

Works (selection)

As an author

Novels

• Tell me a new word for love . Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1980.
• The granddaughter. Novel of a German family through three generations . Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1982.
• The memory. Novel of a found life . Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1984.
• Trip to Leopoldsbad, Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1986.
• A family reunion. Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1988,
• The fog man. Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1989.

stories

• Witches have a hard time today. Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1987.
• Glück im Winkel , Scherz Verlag. Bern, Munich 1992.

As a translator (selection)

• Agatha Christie : The Forgetful Killer ("Third Girl"). Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1968.
• Agatha Christie: Lots of lovely old ladies ("By the pricking of my thumbs"). Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1971.
• Agatha Christie: Age does not protect against ingenuity ("posters of fate"). Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1981.
• Rae Foley: Repent if you can ("Repent at leisure"). Scherz, Munich 1968.
• Paul Geddes: Why in writing, Minister? ("The high game"). Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1970.
• HRF Keating : Inspector Ghote goes to film ("Filmi, filmi, Inspector Ghote"). Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1978.
• Harry Kemelman : On Tuesday the Rabbi saw red ("Tuesday the Rabbi saw red"). Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1975.
• Dean R. Koontz : A friend for dying ("The voice of the night"). Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1982.
• Victoria Lincoln: An Impossible Family. ("February Hill"). Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg 1951.
• Edmund McGirr: Co-advertised - co-died ("Here lies my wife"). Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1969.
• Arthur Miller : The year it all fell apart . L76 Democracy and Socialism. Political and literary contributions, Eds. Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass and Carola Stern, Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Cologne 1976 issue 1.
• Thomas B. Reagan: Nosedive into the afterlife ("The big fall"). Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1970.
• Michael Underwood: I refuse to testify (“Murder made absolute”). Scherz Verlag, Bern, Munich 1967.

Web links

• Vita