Joachim Maass (writer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joachim Maass (born September 11, 1901 in Hamburg , † October 15, 1972 in New York ) was a German writer and poet .

Life

Maass was the son of the merchant Wilhelm Mass and his wife Martha Anna Moje. His brother was the future writer Edgar Maass . After Maass had graduated from the Johanneum (grammar school) in 1920 , he joined his father's company (Maaß & Riege) as a commercial trainee in the same year. In 1922 Maass spent most of the year in the Lisbon branch, and that year also found his way into writing. Back in Hamburg, he left the family business and settled down as a freelance writer.

In 1925 Maass made his debut with Völkische Poetry and Modern Poetry of Portugal ; During these years he also worked as an editor for the Vossische Zeitung in Berlin . In addition to several articles for the cultural magazine Der Kreis , Maass wrote full-time from 1926 for the features section of the Hamburger Fremdblatt .

Maass belonged to the group of writers that formed around the publisher Victor Otto Stomps and his publishing house Rabenpresse , founded in 1926 . These included Horst Lange and his wife Oda Schaefer , Peter Huchel , Werner Bergengruen , for a short time Bertolt Brecht , Walther G. Oschilewski , Robert Seitz , Jens Heimreich , Rolf Bongs , Werner Helwig , Eberhard Meckel and Hans Gebser, the philosopher Jean Gebser got known.

From around 1936 Maass was able to live on his royalties. He used this new independence to travel to the USA . He also used this trip to prepare a possible emigration for himself and some friends. Among them was u. a. also his patron and psychiatrist Lothar Luft and his wife Maria Renée. Luft's wife later became Maass' partner. In 1939 Maass went "voluntarily" into exile in the USA. At first he lived in very modest circumstances in New York. Through the mediation of the National Carl Schurz Association , Maass got a job as a lecturer in German literature at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley , Massachusetts from the winter semester 1940 . He thanked for this with a biography about Carl Schurz : The Tireless Rebel .

During these years Maass maintained close contacts with his colleagues Martin Beheim-Schwarzbach , Carl Zuckmayer and Stefan Zweig as well as with the publishers Gottfried Bermann-Fischer and Kurt Desch . In autumn 1945, Bermann-Fischer made Maass co-editor of the cultural magazine Neue Rundschau of S. Fischer Verlag . Maass held this office until 1950.

In 1952 Maass published his most successful book, The Gouffé case . He returned to Hamburg in the same year for a book presentation. Maass returned to New York in 1954, disappointed in the political and artistic situation in Germany. In 1961 Maass and Ilse Aichinger were awarded the literature prize of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts .

Ill since 1947, Maass' condition deteriorated so much over time that he was completely unable to work from 1965. Maass died in New York in October 1972 at the age of 71.

A great role model for Joachim Maass was Thomas Mann , which can be seen in some works, especially from his early work. Hermann Hesse and Stefan Zweig valued Maass as a colleague and friend.
Maass became famous for his story The Snow of Nebraska , published in 1937, and his novel A Testament , published in 1939 , a story of a criminal case in Hamburg influenced by Fyodor Dostoyevsky . In the novel The Magic Year , published in 1944 , Maass describes his origins and youth.

Works (selection)

  • Borbe (1934, short story, Berlin, Rabenpresse)
  • On the bird roads of Europe (1935)
  • Bohème without Mimi (1930)
  • The Nebraska Snow (1937)
  • Das Eis von Cape Sabine (radio play, premier 1965 NDR / BR, published: 1965 in The Hour of Decision )
  • The Gouffé case. A novel in two books (1952)
  • Secret Science of Literature (1949)
  • Kleist, the torch of Prussia (1957)
  • Kleist, the story of his life (posthumously 1977)
  • The Magic Year (1945, novel, first published in 1944 in English The Magic Year )
  • Schwarzer Nebel (radio play, premiere 1955 NWDR-Hamburg, published: 1965 in The Hour of Decision )
  • Difficult Youth (1952)
  • The hour of the decision. Three Dramas (1965)
  • A will (1939)
  • The Tireless Rebel (1949)
  • The irretrievable time (1935)
  • Ethnic poetry and modern poetry of Portugal (1925)
  • The Adversary (1932)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Maass, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and poet
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1972
Place of death New York City