Gotthard Erler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gotthard Erler (1993)

Gotthard Erler (born June 20, 1933 in Meerane ) is a German literary historian , publisher and Fontane researcher and editor.

Life

Gotthard Erler grew up on a farm in Waldsachsen (between Meerane and Crimmitschau ). The old border between Thuringia and Saxony ran right through the courtyard . He attended high school in Meerane. Even as a schoolboy he worked as a reporter and designed features for Meeraner Stadtfunk. His German teacher encouraged him to study German . He began studying German at the University of Leipzig with Hans Mayer and Hermann August Korff . He wrote his state examination thesis, supervised by Korff, in 1954 on Theodor Fontane and his social novels. After completing his studies, Erler worked for various newspapers and radio stations in the GDR from 1955 to 1959, and from 1956 as a freelancer for the Aufbau-Verlag , where he worked as an employee of Hans Kaufmann in 1959, preparing a ten-volume Heine edition. In 1964 he was permanently employed by the Aufbau-Verlag. There he worked as a lecturer and editor in the field of literature from the 18th to the 20th century and from 1975 as head of the classical editing department. With a dissertation on the topic of conceptual and technical edition aspects of reading and study editions, in connection with published editions by Hans Jürgen Geerdts , Erler received his doctorate in 1978 from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald . In 1980 Erler traveled on behalf of Buchexport Leipzig to the World Conference of Germanists in Basel, which in the GDR was a peculiarity for a non-member of the SED . Erler was chief editor since 1990 and from 1992 until his retirement in 1998 managing director of the Aufbau-Verlag. He lives in Berlin and is married to the editor Therese Erler.

meaning

With numerous editions of letters and works, Erler has not only conveyed important impulses to Fontane research since the late 1960s, but also made a decisive contribution to the dissemination and popularization of Fontane's works: For example, with the 1969 edition of Fontane's novels and stories in 8 volumes, later with the edition of the walks through the Mark Brandenburg in 6 volumes (1976-1987) and the autobiographical writings in 4 volumes (1982). Erler's edition of Fontane's letters in two volumes was successfully published several times (first in 1968 in the library of German classics published by the Aufbau-Verlag). The estate novel Mathilde Möhring , re-published in 1969 based on the manuscript, received a lot of attention, the edition of which has now been superseded by the edition by Gabriele Radecke (2008). Since 1994, in cooperation with the Theodor Fontane Archive Potsdam, the Aufbau Verlag has published the Great Brandenburger Edition (GBA) of Fontane's works, suggested and edited by Erler , which is estimated at around 75 volumes. With the completion of the narrative work and diaries and travel diaries departments , the GBA will now be continued under the direction of Gabriele Radecke and Heinrich Detering . The departments The Autobiographical Work , The Travel Literary Work and The Critical Work are now being worked on by an interdisciplinary team at the Theodor Fontane's office at the University of Göttingen. Within the GBA, Erler's edition of the exchange of marriage letters was particularly well received. He finally achieved great success with a biography by Emilie Fontane .

Honors

1971 Gotthard Erler received with a collective of Aufbau Verlag by the Chairman of the State Council of the GDR Walter Ulbricht the National Prize for "exemplary verlegerisch -put in the development and publication of the socialist German national literature including the progressive humanist heritage of German classicism".

In 2014 he was awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon ( Federal Cross of Merit ) by Federal President Joachim Gauck for his “long-standing commitment as a publisher in the Aufbau Verlag and as a literary historian” . "His great personal commitment to the edition and publication of Fontane's works" was particularly emphasized.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 3 volumes, 1998
  2. ↑ Gotthard Erler: The heart always remains young. Emilie Fontane. Biography. Berlin 2002
  3. ^ Fontane leaves. Volume 2, Issue 2, 1972, p. 452
  4. ↑ Press release of the Press and Information Office of the State of Berlin from January 22, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Erler, Gotthard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German literary historian and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Meerane