Gisbert Kranz

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Gisbert Kranz , pseudonym: Kris Tanzberg (born February 9, 1921 in Essen - Steele ; † October 3, 2009 in Aachen ) was a German writer , literary scholar , biographer , educator and Roman Catholic theologian .

Life

Gisbert Kranz was the eldest of four sons of a merchant who ran a hardware store in Steele an der Ruhr (a district of Essen since 1929). He attended the Carl-Humann-Gymnasium in Essen-Steele, where he graduated from high school in 1939. Kranz was a group leader in the Bund New Germany . After its dissolution by the Gestapo in 1939, he organized illegal home evenings at home. He refused to join the Hitler Youth . After the Reich Labor Service, he studied Catholic theology in Paderborn and Bonn from 1939 to 1941 . In March 1941 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht , was a soldier on the Eastern and Western Fronts and was wounded several times. In autumn 1944 he was taken prisoner by the British, from which he was released in April 1947.

From 1947 to 1950, Kranz studied German , English , theology and history in Bonn . With a dissertation on Ernst Jünger , he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD. He then worked as a high school teacher in Gelsenkirchen , Castrop-Rauxel , Marl and Paderborn. Part-time he was a lecturer at the adult education centers in Gelsenkirchen and Marl as well as a lecturer at the Paderborn University of Education ; In addition, he was often invited to give lectures by universities in Germany and abroad. In 1965 he moved to Aachen, where he worked as a senior lecturer until his retirement in 1978.

Gisbert Kranz is the author of more than 50 books. His first book dealt with Dostoyevsky's idea of freedom . A large part of his work is made up of biographies of saints and of outstanding personalities in the history of Christianity. For the Biographical-Bibliographical Church Lexicon , Kranz u. a. the articles on Gilbert Keith Chesterton and CS Lewis . Under the pseudonym Kris Tanzberg , he edited several volumes of his own poems. Many of his books have been translated, including a. into English, Czech and Slovak, Dutch, Danish and Romanian. He reviewed hundreds of literary and literary works and published numerous articles on the didactics of literature teaching in high schools.

Kranz wrote several studies on the literary genre picture poem ; The Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel acquired his collection of pictorial poems in 1988 . An editorial achievement is his three-volume manual Das Bildgedicht. Theory, lexicon, bibliography , in which Kranz identified around 50,000 pictorial poems. It lists 5,764 authors of pictorial poems in 35 languages. From this material, Kranz developed a theory of the pictorial poem. Gisbert Kranz is considered to be "the most renowned researcher in the field of European pictorial poetry".

Kranz maintained an exchange of letters with many contemporaries, u. a. with fellow writers Rose Ausländer , Schalom Ben-Chorin , Hans Carossa , Alfred Döblin , Thomas Stearns Eliot , Manfred Hausmann , Bernt von Heiseler , Ernst Jünger , Martin Kessel , Gertrud von le Fort , Thomas Mann and Kurt Marti .

In 1983, Kranz founded the international Inklings Society for Literature and Aesthetics . V. based in Aachen and was its president until 1993, most recently its honorary president.

Kranz was married and the father of four children: Ursula, Anna, Margarita and Winfried. His daughter Margarita worked for the Historical Dictionary of Philosophy and is married to the philosophy professor Winfried Schröder .

Gisbert Kranz lived in Aachen until his death. He was buried in the forest cemetery in Aachen .

Honors

Gisbert Kranz was an honorary member of the New York CS Lewis Society and the International Ovid Society , Bucharest. In 1997 he was honored with the German Fantasy Prize for his work on the four Inklings authors JRR Tolkien , CS Lewis, Charles Williams and Gilbert Keith Chesterton .

Fonts (selection)

Biographical works

  • Elisabeth of Thuringia as she really was. Winfried-Werk, Augsburg 1957 (numerous new editions with partly different titles)
  • Political Saints and Catholic Reformers. Three volumes with a total of 42 biographical portraits. Winfried-Werk, Augsburg 1957, 1959 a. 1964
  • Bishop Ketteler. A picture of life. Winfried-Werk, Augsburg 1961
  • Augustine - Service to the World. A picture of life. Winfried-Werk, Augsburg 1967
    • Revised new edition under the title Augustine. His life and work. Matthias-Grünewald, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-7867-1795-8 .
  • They lived Christianity. 28 biographies. Winfried-Werk, Augsburg 1973
  • Challenged by their time. 6 women's lives. Pustet, Regensburg 1976, ISBN 3-7917-0460-5 .
  • Commitment and testimony. 11 images of life. Pustet, Regensburg 1977, ISBN 3-7917-0508-3 .
  • Johann Michael Sailer (1751-1832). His work at the turning point. Pustet, Regensburg 1982, ISBN 3-7917-0748-5 .
  • Winfried Boniface . Pioneer of Christianity (672–754). Bonifatius, Paderborn 1988
  • Thomas von Kempen . The silent reformer from the Lower Rhine . Brendow, Moers 1993, ISBN 3-87067-524-1 .
  • Works in individual editions: Biographien , St. Ottilien 1998–2000
    • Vol. 1: Twelve women
    • Vol. 2: Twelve reformers
    • Vol. 3: Ten helpers in need
    • Vol. 4: Twelve Church Men
    • Vol. 5: Eight despots: Herod, Nero, Richard III, Ivan the Terrible, Robespierre, Stalin, Ceauşescu, Hitler

Writings on literary studies

  • The human being in his decision. On Dostoyevsky's idea of ​​freedom , Bonn 1949
  • Ernst Jünger's symbolism , Bonn 1950 (dissertation)
    • Revised new edition under the title Ernst Jünger's symbolic world show , Düsseldorf 1968
  • Christian literature of the modern age , Aschaffenburg 1959
  • Gertrud von Le Fort as an artist , Paderborn 1959
  • Europe's Christian Literature 1500–1960 , Aschaffenburg 1961
    • extended new edition under the title European Christian Literature from 1500 to Today , Paderborn 1968
  • The pictorial poem in Europe. On the theory and history of a literary genre , Paderborn 1973
  • CS Lewis. Studies on life and work , Bonn 1974
  • Christian poetry today. New publications from 1960 to 1975 , Paderborn 1975
  • Gertrud von Le Fort. Life and work in data, images and testimonies , Frankfurt am Main 1976
  • Lexicon of Christian World Literature , Freiburg 1978, ISBN 3-451-17949-0
  • The pictorial poem. Theory, lexicon, bibliography . Cologne and Vienna
    • Vol. 1: Theory, Lexicon , 1981
    • Vol. 2: Bibliography , 1981
    • Vol. 3: Supplements , 1987
  • Masterpieces in pictorial poems. Reception of art in poetry , Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-8204-9091-4
  • Europe's Christian Literature from 500 to 1500 , Munich 1988, ISBN 3-506-74814-9
  • Das Architekturgedicht , Cologne and Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-412-06387-8
  • Kafkas Lachen and other writings on literature, 1950–1990 , Cologne and Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-412-19789-0
  • The Inklings Library. Systematic catalog of the special collection on GK Chesterton, CS Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams , Passau 1992
  • Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Prophet with a pointed pen , Augsburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-936484-61-8

As editor and translator

  • English sonnets , Stuttgart 1970 (selection, translation and introduction)
  • German sculptures in the German poem , Munich 1975
  • Poems on pictures. Anthology and Gallery , Munich 1975
  • Dome in the poem. An anthology , Cologne 1975
  • Praise to modern poets. An anthology , Regensburg 1976
  • Image meditation of the poets. Verses on Christian Art , Regensburg and Hamburg 1976
  • The Arthur Poems by Charles Williams. Introduction, translation, commentary, concordance , Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-631-44016-2

Writings on art

  • Colored reflection. A symbolism , Nuremberg and Zurich 1957
  • German painting past and present. With a guide through the most important museums in the German-speaking area , Munich 1978, ISBN 3-19-001241-5
  • Poetic galleries. Pictorial poetry books from the Gisbert Kranz collection. Exhibition in the Bibliotheca Augusta, February 9 to April 28, 1996 , Wolfenbüttel 1996

Writings on education and theology

  • Holy life as an educational asset in schools, adult education and pastoral care. Paderborn 1965
  • The divine laughter. Echter, Würzburg 1970
  • Christian punchlines. Echter, Würzburg 1971
  • Love and knowledge. One try. Munich 1972, ISBN 3-7916-0106-7 .
  • Smirk catechism. A cheerful theology. Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7904-0273-7 .

Poems

  • (under the pseudonym Kris Tanzberg) Epiphanien , Darmstadt 1975
  • (under the pseudonym Kris Tanzberg) Liberal Arts. Poems , Hamburg 1978
  • (under the pseudonym Kris Tanzberg) Pictures and People , Dortmund 1981
  • Niederwald and other poems , Lüdenscheid 1984

Autobiographical

  • Encounters with poets , Wuppertal and Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-417-24089-1
  • Catholic youth in the Third Reich. Memories 1921–1947 , Freiburg 1990, ISBN 3-451-08727-8
    • extended new edition under the title Youth under the Swastika. Memories of a completely normal Catholic , Augsburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-86744-041-7

literature

  • Entry in Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar 2001.
  • Heinz Martin Werhahn (ed.): Gisbert Kranz, the work. Introduction, criticism, bibliography . JA Mayer, Aachen 1971.
  • Christina Hofmann-Randall: The Gisbert Kranz Archive. With a selection of writings from creative people. Autographs by poets, thinkers and painters from the collections of Gisbert Kranz in Eichstätt and Wolfenbüttel . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1996. ISBN 3-447-03793-8 .
  • Obituary for Gisbert Kranz. In: Christ in der Gegenwart , vol. 61 (2009), p. 459.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Gisbert Kranz, b. in Essen 1921 . In: NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne (ed.): Youth in Germany 1918–1945 , accessed on September 28, 2014.
  2. ^ Gisbert Kranz: Youth under the swastika. Memories of a completely normal Catholic , Augsburg 2007, therein the chapter In captivity , pp. 132–152.
  3. a b Article Gisbert Kranz in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors.
  4. ^ Karl Pestalozzi : The picture poem . In: Gottfried Boehm, Helmut Pfotenhauer (ed.): Descriptive art, description of art. Ekphrasis from ancient times to the present . Verlag W. Fink, Munich 1995. ISBN 3-7705-2966-9 . Pp. 569-591, here p. 569.
  5. Erika Greber : The concrete picture poem. For the transcription of fine arts into visual poetry . In: Roger Lüdeke, Erika Greber (ed.): Intermedium Literature. Contributions to a media theory of literary studies . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2004. ISBN 3-89244-765-9 . Pp. 171–208, here p. 171.
  6. ^ Siglind Bruhn : Sonic Transformations of Literary Texts. From Program Music to Musical Ekphrasis . Pendragon Press, Hillsdale 2008. ISBN 978-1-57647-140-1 . P. 7.
  7. Laura M. Sager Eidt: Writing and filming the painting. Ekphrasis in liturature and film . Rodopi, Amsterdam 2008. ISBN 978-90-420-2457-1 . P. 19.
  8. Viviane Kafitz: Sprachartistische Lyrik. Painting and sculpture poems of Russian symbolism . Böhlau, Cologne 2008. ISBN 978-3-412-20130-2 . P. 1.
  9. Christina Hofmann-Randall: The Gisbert-Kranz-Archive. With a selection of writings from creative people. Autographs by poets, thinkers and painters from the collections of Gisbert Kranz in Eichstätt and Wolfenbüttel . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1996. pp. 46-60.
  10. a b Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of October 7, 2009, p. 34.