Heinz Risse

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Heinz Risse (born March 30, 1898 in Düsseldorf , † July 17, 1989 in Solingen ) was a German writer . He was one of the outsiders of the literary business, which he avoided as much as possible. His narrative or essayistic prose is shaped by social and cultural criticism, but also by “belief in people”.

life and work

The son of a doctor attended the Humboldt Gymnasium in Düsseldorf on Klosterstrasse. After graduating from high school in 1915, the 17-year-old was sent to the First World War like many others in his class. In 1918 he was buried by a shell impact, but, unlike the 21 classmates of his year, was the only one to survive the war. He then studied economics and (with Heinrich Rickert ) philosophy at the universities of Marburg , Frankfurt am Main and Heidelberg . He did his doctorate with the Heidelberg sociologist Alfred Weber . From 1922 Risse was active in the economy, at times also abroad. He later settled in Solingen as one of the first sworn auditors . He continued to practice this profession after starting to write short stories and essays in the late 1940s. Risse did not see writing as an end in itself, but "a means and a discipline for self-realization".

Heinz Risse was an advocate of a Europe that was not bound by blocs. From 1952 to 1962 and from 1965 to 1984 he was a member of the PEN Center Germany ; in both cases he ended membership by resigning. 1956 received the Immermann Prize of the City of Düsseldorf , 1974 the Culture Prize of the City of Solingen . On his 90th birthday, Risse donated a literary criticism prize that bears his name.

Cover letter against the cheering language

Risse's “timelessly valid” prose deals with “basic human problems such as guilt, atonement, freedom, law or truth, which he let his protagonists experience and overcome without any illusions, but with great logic and consistency. For him private fate was only a simile for the fate of man in general, whose only guideline for his actions could only be one's own conscience. In addition, Heinz Risse, who was a very critical person, denounced not only private and social materialism, but also the empty hustle and bustle of public life. ”In an essay from 1959, he examined the popular language of jubilation as a“ phenomenon of performance society ”.

For Nossack, colleague Risse understands narration in a “captivating” and “masterly” manner. “These novels are like a river into which countless tributaries flow; they are forced to flow along in its direction, which leads out of the narrow material world. At the end of all of his books, the figures that Risse describes to us cross the line into the unspeakable, but as a reader one feels this as a new beginning. You know that this is where the path leads, and you know that everyone has to take the next decisive step alone. ”A GDR lexicon points a little less exuberantly to the“ ambiguity and symbolism of Risse's stylistically more precise, sometimes dry prose ”and inscribes it “Irrationalist image of society and people”, including godliness.

Works

  • Sociology of Sport. Berlin 1921. New edition with epilogue by Henning Eichberg in the Sport: Culture, Change series. Münster 1979. French in the Collection Cultures Corporelles series. Rennes 1991
  • The escape behind the bars. Hamburg 1948
  • Wanderers. Novellas, Hamburg 1948
  • The Last Chapter of the World: Chaos or Unity as the End of Human History? Stuttgart 1949
  • When the earth shakes. Roman, Munich 1950
  • Bats. Story, Bremen 1951
  • Queues in Geneva. Stories, Krefeld 1951
  • So free from guilt. Roman, Munich 1951
  • The torch of Prometheus. Essay, Munich 1952
  • Reward yourself. Fabeln, Bremen 1953
  • Then the day came. Roman, Munich 1953
  • A Cricket. Stories, Bremen 1953
  • Samson and the little people. Story, Munich 1954
  • Promote culture! Munich 1955
  • Sören the rascal. Roman, Munich 1955
  • Big ride and wrong game. Roman, Munich 1956
  • Overgrown lianas. Stories, Munich 1956
  • The duel with the devil. Hamburg 1957
  • One too many. Roman, Munich 1957
  • Philosopher's Rock. Essays, Munich 1957
  • Paul Cézanne and Gottfried Benn. Munich 1957
  • Accountant of God. Stories, Munich 1958
  • The island of the blessed. A conversation, Munich 1958
  • The city without roots. Story, Munich 1958
  • The ship swing. Stories, Munich 1959
  • The age of jubilation. Essays, 1959
  • The last resort. Two stories, Berlin 1961
  • Theft. Stories, Lübeck 1962
  • It’s like going on velvet. Stories and Conversations, Munich 1962
  • Fine nonsense at state expense. Essays, Hamburg 1963
  • Rows of stripes or the apology of remaining in the room. Roman, Munich 1963
  • Public relations. Two conversations, Hamburg 1964
  • The power and fate of a corpse and other tales. Krefeld 1967
  • Solingen the way it was. Düsseldorf 1975
  • Skepticism without a black ribbon. Impressions and Illusions, Hamburg 1980
  • Berkeley and the Demiurge. Essay, Bielefeld 1983
  • Theft and other news from the sociology of sport, morals and language. Vastorf near Lüneburg 1984
  • Thirty-three of his kind only a question mark? or the tapeworm wisdom. Gifkendorf 1985
  • Family Welfare / About the Melancholy in Art. Story and conversation, Vastorf near Lüneburg 1985
  • Fiscalia curiosa: on the problem of tax justice, with nine drawings by Janosch. Gifkendorf near Lüneburg 1986
  • It should have turned out differently. Stories, Gifkendorf near Lüneburg 1988

Risse also wrote some contributions for the radio.

literature

  • Hans Erich Nossack : An apology of the people. Experiment on Heinz Risse. In: New Literary World. No. 17, September 10, 1952, p. 3.
  • Erwin Laaths , Heinz Risse: Immermannpreis speeches 1957. Munich 1957.
  • Heinz Risse 70 years. Festschrift Heinz Risse. Scherpe Verlag, Krefeld 1968.
  • Richard A. Borth: The immaterialism of Heinz Risse as reflected in his literary writings. University thesis. Lincoln (Nebr.) 1976.
  • Barbara Sigrid Ma: The concept of freedom in the works of Heinz Risse. UMA, Ann Arbor (Mich.) 1978.
  • Baden Community Foundation: History from the Bergisches Land. Heinz Risse Literature Prize 1998. Solingen 1999, p. 140.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Nossack 1952.
  2. ↑ a b History of the Rhine , accessed on April 30, 2012.
  3. ^ Lexicon of German-speaking writers. Leipzig 1972.
  4. ↑ A prisoner on remand gives himself an account
  5. ↑ An innocent man is in prison for a murder that he did not commit - after his release he will commit it.
  6. ↑ Risse's most successful novel is about a general manager who takes stock of his life at 70 and then throws his money out the window and sets his factory on fire.
  7. ↑ Fake, mocking speech about Risse itself and the literature business.
  8. ↑ online ( memento of May 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 30, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Risse, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1989
Place of death Solingen