Horst Bien

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Horst Bien (born November 5, 1920 in Treptow an der Rega , Western Pomerania; † June 16, 1993 in Greifswald ) was a German literary scholar, translator and university professor.

life and work

Horst Bien grew up as the adopted son of Arthur and Elsa Bien in Treptow an der Rega, graduated from secondary school there in 1938 and began training as a foreign correspondent. In 1939 he was drafted as a soldier in the Wehrmacht. In 1946 he was released from captivity and initially worked as an interpreter in Bremen. From 1947 to 1948 he was a student at the Foreign Language School in Leipzig and passed the interpreting test for the English language at the Thuringia Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Since 1948 he was married to the German studies and university professor Gisela Bien (1920–2004).

After a brief activity as a teacher at a secondary school in Jena, he worked as a lecturer at the Jenenser Volkshochschule until 1952 and was also a student of English, Slavonic, Nordic and pedagogical studies at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. After the state examination in 1953, he worked here as a lecturer until 1954 and as a research assistant or senior assistant in the Nordic Department of the German Institute until 1957. In 1957 he received his doctorate on the subject of "The National Breakthrough in Norwegian Literature of the 18th Century", and in 1963 he completed his habilitation with the subject of "Investigations into Henrik Ibsen's Realism". From 1957 until his retirement in 1986 he worked at the Nordic Institute of the Philosophical Faculty of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald , first as a senior assistant, from 1959 as a lecturer, from 1965 as a professor with a teaching position for Norwegian and Danish literature and cultural relations the Nordic countries, from 1969 as a full professor for cultural policy and literatures of the Nordic countries. From 1965 to 1967 he was acting head of the institute. In the course of the 3rd university reform in 1969, the Nordic Institute became the Northern European Studies section.

With the publication of his literary research, Horst Bien made a name for himself primarily as an Ibsen researcher. In addition, as a Nordicist he has “written impressively about many Norwegian writers, u. a. via Hamsun, Nordahl Grieg and Kjartan Fløgstad […]. Horst Bien was particularly interested in Norwegian workers' poetry - a commendable cultural ecology! [...] All in all, Horst Bien was made of the material from which the Saint Olav Order is made. "

The Norwegian literary historian and literary critic Willy Dahl pays tribute to Horst Bien's services to Norwegian literature: “His work as a translator, author of forewords and as a publishing consultant is the reason for the high level of awareness of Norwegian literature, which is more accessible in German than in any other language . A long series of editions by older and new authors, peppered with a lot of articles and introductions, are in themselves a life's work. "

The German and Scandinavian scholar Knut Brynhildsvoll wrote in an obituary in 1993: “With Horst Bien, modern Nordic literary studies have lost one of their most prominent representatives in the German-speaking area, who has earned a high reputation far beyond the borders of his home country, especially through his Ibsen research. [...] Anyone who takes the trouble to take a fresh look at Bien's work will find that his findings are by no means out of date with the change in methodical preferences, but that their substantive statements still hold and weight. The concept of realism is grasped in Bien much more precisely and differentiated than is the case in many conventional reflection theories, because it sufficiently takes into account the interdependence of subjective conditioning and objective necessity, which is decisive for its constitution. "

Books, editorial work and epilogues (selection)

  • Horst Bien: The national breakthrough in Norwegian literature in the second half of the 18th century. Jena, Philosophical Faculty, dissertation dated November 29, 1956.
  • Festschrift of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald for the Baltic Sea Week from June 27 to July 5, 1959. Compiled by Horst Bien, scientific journal of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald. Volume 8, Issue 3, 1959.
  • Horst Bien: Investigations into Henryk Ibsen's realism. Greifswald, Philosophical Faculty, habilitation thesis dated November 12, 1963.
  • Henrik Ibsen: Peer Gynt. A dramatic poem. Translated from the Norwegian by Christian Morgenstern, with an afterword by Horst Bien, Leipzig 1965.
  • Nordahl Grieg: And the ship goes on. Selected works in separate editions. Translated from the Norwegian by Gustav Morgenstern. Ed. And with an afterword by Horst Bien. Berlin 1965, 2nd edition 1966.
  • Dr. Horst Bien et al Eds .: Northern Europe: Yearbook for Nordic Studies - 1 (1966); Northern Europe: Yearbook of Nordic Studies - 2 (1967); Northern Europe: Yearbook of Nordic Studies - 3 (1969). Scientific journal of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald.
  • Johanna Bugge Olsen: The girl Tine. Novel. Translated from the Norwegian by Bernhard Schulze. With an afterword by Horst Bien. Rostock 1967.
  • Nordahl Grieg: Dramas. Selected works in separate editions. Edited by Horst Bien, Berlin 1968.
  • Horst Bien: Henrik Ibsen's realism. On the genesis and method of the classical critical-realistic drama (New Contributions to Literary Studies; Vol. 29). Berlin 1970.
  • Nordahl Grieg: In a convoy across the Atlantic. Reports and journalism. Translated from the Norwegian by Rosemarie Paulsen and Lutz Volke. Edited and with an introduction by Horst Bien, Berlin 1972.
  • Horst Bien: Henrik Ibsen's realism. The classic Kritisk-Realistiske dramas opprinnelse and utvikling. Universitetsforlaget Oslo – Bergen – Tromsø 1973.
  • Knut Hamsun: August circumnavigator. Translated from Norwegian by J. Sandmeier et al. S. Angermann. With an afterword by Horst Bien, Leipzig 1976, 2nd edition 1980.
  • Henrik Ibsen: Dramas. With an afterword by Horst Bien, Berlin 1977.
  • Artur Bethke, Horst Bien and Erika Kosmalla: Meyer's Pocket Lexicon of Northern European Literatures. Head of and overall editing by Horst Bien, Leipzig 1978, 2nd edition 1980.
  • Knut Hamsun: Hungry. Translated from Norwegian by J. Sandmeier et al. S. Angermann. With an afterword by Horst Bien, Leipzig 1978, 2nd edition 1989.
  • Knut Hamsun: blessing the earth. Translated from Norwegian by J. Sandmeier et al. S. Angermann. With an afterword by Horst Bien, Berlin 1979.
  • The Nordic literatures as an object of literary historiography. Contributions to the 13th Study Conference of the International Association for Scandinavian Studies (IASS) 10. – 16. August 1980 at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald. Edited by Horst Bien with the collaboration of Gabriele Sokoll, Rostock 1982.
  • Horst Bien: Works and Effects of Knut Hamsun. An inventory. Leverkusen 1990.

Literary translations and revisions

  • Call from Norway: Poems by Rudolf Nilsen and Nordahl Grieg. Selected and transferred by Horst Bien and Helmut Stelzig. With a comment by Helmut Strelzig. Hinstorff, Rostock 1960.
  • Øivind Bolstad: The game continues (drama). Berlin 1964.
  • Poems by Göran Sonnevi, Ingvar Törnell, Ulf Oldberg a. a. In: New German Literature. Berlin 1973, no. 7, p. 116 ff.
  • Inger Hagerup: Tea with Lemon (TV play), Berlin 1974, 2nd edition 1975.
  • Kristian Elster: sun clouds. A country doctor to a friend. Translated from the Norwegian by Gisela and Horst Bien. Follow-up remark by Horst Bien. Illustrations by Ronald Paris. Rostock 1986.
  • Kristian Elster: A strange bird / Kristian Elster. Illustrations by Harry Juergens. Translated from the Norwegian by Gisela and Horst Bien. Rostock 1990.
  • The detailed list of publications can be found in: Horst Bien: Works and Effects of Knut Hamsuns. An inventory. Leverkusen 1990, pp. 75-80.

Secondary literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knut Brynhildsvoll: Obituary: Horst Bien (1920–1993). In: Scandinavian Studies. Magazine for the language, literature and culture of the Nordic countries. Issue 2 / 1993. Ed. Nordic Institute of the University of Kiel; Translated from Norwegian by Gabriele Sokoll.
  2. ↑ Willy Dahl: Foreword. In: Horst Bien: Works and Effects of Knut Hamsuns. An inventory. Leverkusen 1990, p. 2 f.
  3. ^ Obituary: Horst Bien (1920–1993). In: Scandinavian Studies. Magazine for the language, literature and culture of the Nordic countries. Issue 2 / 1993. Ed. Nordisches Institut der Universität Kiel, p. 128.
personal data
SURNAME Bien, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German literary scholar, translator and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH 5th November 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Treptow an der Rega , Western Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1993
Place of death Greifswald