Jürgen Dahl

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Jürgen Dahl (born October 18, 1929 in Moers ; † October 6, 2001 in Kranenburg ) was a German bookseller , journalist and author .

Life

The son of the painter Oskar Dahl, after training in book trade and publishing, was an independent bookseller from 1955 to 1964 and founder of the Krefeld bookstore named after him. He then worked as a freelance writer and journalist. He became known for his garden columns in the magazines natur , kraut & rüben , Flora and the ZEITmagazin as well as the author of numerous philosophical and scientific articles and books. From 1974 he was co-editor of the magazine Scheidewege , an annual publication for skeptical thinking that had been founded by Friedrich Georg Jünger and Max Himmelträger . The West German Radio broadcast lectures by Jürgen Dahl. As a gardener, he dealt a lot with natural history and ecological issues. Most recently he lived with his wife Hella on the Lindenhof in Kranenburg near Kleve on the Lower Rhine, whose ornamental, utility and educational garden was open to visitors on Saturdays in the summer months.

plant

Artistic creation

Dahl was interested in the language with all its forms from an early age and collected limericks , riddles and old compliments. From 1958 he published anthologies as well as critical treatises on cars, atomic energy and astronomy, until he started to write mainly on plants, gardens and ecology from the mid-1980s . He encouraged astonishment and awe at the living nature, which he saw endangered by pesticides and ruthless exploitation. As a skeptical environmental observer and connoisseur of botany, he explained ecological relationships and called for not to work against nature, but to act responsibly. He questioned the causes of the creeping destruction and warned of dangerous illusions of progress and supposed improvements.

His style of writing is sober but captivating and often humorous, at times ironic and polemical with snappy swipes against biologists, ecologists, physicists, medical professionals and market scientists. His gardening books differ from the popular guides and lead the reader to a new way of looking at nature. The purely decorative aspect of garden design is secondary to him. It not only describes many inconspicuous and little-known plants, but also encourages undogmatic gardening, checking old rules and self-experimentation. The use of all senses is important to him, for example by suggesting a stink garden as opposed to a scented garden or by showing which plants are edible. He contributed, among others, to saving old fruits and vegetables from oblivion.

Works

  • 99 Limericks with the most necessary commentary for non-English people and with drawings by Reiner Zimnik . (1958)
  • Shanties . (1959)
  • Night women and galster women . A natural story of the witch. (1960)
  • 111 Limericks, illustrated by Paul Flora . (1961)
  • Maccaronian poetic. (1962)
  • It's behind the house. German puzzles from the vernacular and by unknown authors collected and introduced by Jürgen Dahl. (1963)
  • I am not telling you what I am telling you. (1964)
  • Clerihews. (1964)
  • Youth of the machines. Images from the encyclopedia by Diderot and d'Alembert, edited by Jürgen Dahl. (1965)
  • How to create a mood with language. (1965)
  • Word cabinet. With seven drawers, an introduction and instructions. (1966)
  • New collection of old compliments. (1967)
  • Joke questions - reading book. (1967)
  • Travel to nowhere. A geographical thread of lies spun together from many foreign threads. (1967)
  • Messages from a survivor. Critical Articles. (1969)
  • The beginning of the end of cars. (1972)
  • Objection to set theory . Objection to mobility. Defense against Plastic. (1974)
  • Outcrops: limestone , flint , slate . Three attempts at geology . (1977)
  • For better or for worse. When time comes, comes rubbish. On the metaphysics of atomic energy generation . (1977)
  • The astronomer's day is night. About the futility of exploring the sky. (1979)
  • Limericks & Clerihews. (1981)
  • The incomprehensible garden and its devastation: beyond ecology and beyond ecology. (1984)
  • Wild plants in the garden. Sowing and planting, care and propagation. (1985)
  • News from the garden. Practical, thoughtful and contradicting / from one garden for all gardens. (1987)
  • New messages from the garden. (1987)
  • The earth is crying. Early warnings of the devastation. (1987)
  • The audacity of the unsuspecting. (1989)
  • Time in the garden: 12 walks through the garden at Lindenhof and elsewhere. (1991)
  • From the taste of the lily flowers. Latest news from the garden. (1995)
  • The curious gardener. (1998)
  • My beloved hay. Notes on the herbarium . (2000)
  • Bitter laughter in the green area. Essays and glosses by a skeptic. (2001)
  • The stink garden or the fascination of the opposite. (2002)
  • Objection to mobility. The beginning of the end of the automobile. Defense against Plastic. ISBN 978-3-946990-39-0 (2020)

Awards

  • German Journalist Award (1965)
  • Bruno H. Schubert Prize for Nature Conservation (1987)

literature

  • Jürgen Dahl: The astronomer's day is night. Langewiesche-Brandt publishing house, Ebenhausen near Munich 1979
  • Jürgen Dahl: The incomprehensible garden and its devastation. Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-608-93074-4 .
  • Jürgen Dahl: News from the garden. 2nd improved edition with new equipment, Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-608-93120-1 .
  • Jürgen Dahl: New news from the garden. Klett-Cotta publishing house, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-608-93098-1 .
  • Jürgen Dahl: Time in the garden. Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1991, ISBN 3-455-08393-5 .
  • Jürgen Dahl: About the taste of the lily blossoms. Latest news from the garden. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-30464-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Die Zeit, Mathias Greffrath: "Zorn der Vernunft" , from May 19, 2011. Retrieved on August 30, 2011.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: The incomprehensible garden and its desolation. Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 1984 ISBN 3-608-93074-4 , p. 43
  3. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: The incomprehensible garden and its devastation , pp. 49-65
  4. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: From the taste of the lily flowers. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1995 ISBN 3-423-30464-2 , p. 131
  5. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: The incomprehensible garden and its devastation , pp. 9 and 10
  6. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: The day of the astronomer is the night , p. 90
  7. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: The incomprehensible garden and its devastation , p. 149
  8. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: The incomprehensible garden and its devastation , p. 44
  9. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: From the taste of the lily flowers , p. 37
  10. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: From the taste of the lily flowers , p. 7
  11. ↑ Jürgen Dahl: From the taste of the lily flowers , pp. 21, 26, 41–46

Web links

Wikiquote: Jürgen_Dahl  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME Dahl, Jürgen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bookseller, journalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Moers
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 2001
Place of death Kranenburg (Lower Rhine)