Elisabeth Alexander

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Elisabeth Alexander (born August 21, 1922 in Linz am Rhein , † January 17, 2009 in Heidelberg ) was a German writer .

life and work

Elisabeth Alexander came from a family of craftsmen. After attending a Catholic girls' school, she completed an apprenticeship in housekeeping in a monastery in Bad Honnef and worked as a housemaid and nanny . After acquiring further skills in courses, she worked as an accountant and from 1943 to 1945 as an accounting officer in German war hospitals. In 1946 she moved to Heidelberg, where she worked as a secretary for the United States Army . She attended an evening grammar school , took acting studies at the University of Music and Theater in Heidelberg and began to write. A divorce in 1963 resulted in three children whom she raised alone. From 1963 she began to publish her literary work, and from 1970 Alexander was a freelance writer. From 1975 to 1982 she was a freelancer for the Heidelberger Tageblatt . She went on numerous reading and lecture trips abroad, especially to the USA . In 1985 she was a “visiting writer” at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock and from 1990 she was a lecturer at the German Department of the University of Mannheim .

Alexander was the author of an extensive work, which consists primarily of poetry and narrative prose . In 1970, the author caused a sensation nationwide with her performance-like reading of her poems, which were then regarded as unusually revealing. The focus of her work is on women's issues, without Alexander being regarded as a typically feminist author. Until the late 1970s she was largely ignored by German literary criticism , and even after that, their judgment remained divided: While the author's precise and intensive everyday observations were widely recognized, opinions about Alexander's decidedly anti-intellectual stance and her idiosyncratic language diverge widely .

Elisabeth Alexander was a member of the Association of German Writers .

Awards and honors

Works

  • Bums , Hamburg 1971
  • The woman who laughed , Leverkusen 1975
  • After a certain lifetime , Sankt Augustin 1975
  • Fritte Pomm , Leverkusen 1976
  • I am not a horse , Leverkusen 1976
  • Breadcrumbs , Luxembourg 1977
  • 12 banner months , Pforzheim 1977 (together with Axel Hertenstein )
  • I want to be a child as a child , Münster 1978
  • The foolish virgin , Cologne 1978
  • I'm on the bulletin board , Hamburg 1979
  • So criss-cross , Schleiden 1980 (together with Anna-Dorothea Siekmann )
  • And nobody saw me , Schleiden 1980 (together with Harald Herr )
  • Where are you comfort , Kusel 1981
  • She should have killed her children , Düsseldorf 1982
  • Ladies stories , Heilbronn u. a. 1983
  • Glückspfennig , Düsseldorf 1984
  • "Schmusekater is looking for a woman to steal horses" , Frankfurt am Main 1986 (together with Helga Häsing )
  • Zeitflusen , Heidelberg 1986
  • The moon goes in the corridor , Trier 1988
  • Herrengeschichten , Trier 1990
  • Abdominal shot , Trier 1992
  • Lisa's love , Speyer 1994
  • The clock runs backwards when the snow falls , Weilerswist 1994
  • Domicile Heidelberg , Speyer 1995
  • Through the veins of time , Reilingen 1996
  • Kurz & klein , Trier 1997
  • What happens now happens the other way around , Trier 1997
  • At the foot of the bed , Trier 1999
  • Come, children, come! , Reilingen 1999
  • Work edition , Trier
    • Vol. 1. The seven hides of Hanna Winter , 2002

Editing

  • Rhein-Neckar-Reader , Karlsruhe 1983
  • Heidelberg Reader , Karlsruhe 1988

literature

  • Irmgard Elsner Hunt: Dismantling the mother myth. On the prose work by Elisabeth Alexander. 2nd edition Emig, Weinsberg 1987 (= materials on the work of Elisabeth Alexander 1) ISBN 3-921249-19-8 .
  • Frederick Alfred Lubich: Elisabeth Alexander's novel "The foolish virgin" or the return of the great mother. Emig, Weinsberg 1986 (= materials on the work of Elisabeth Alexander 2) ISBN 3-921249-52-X .
  • Paula Jo Pierce: The motherhood myth in the works of Elisabeth Alexander. A feminist perspective? Emig, Weinsberg 1986 (= materials on the work of Elisabeth Alexander 3) ISBN 3-921249-53-8 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Alexander, Elisabeth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz on the Rhine
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 2009
Place of death Heidelberg