Johannes Poethen

Portrait relief Johannes Poethen, signed by him by Eva Zippel , Terrakotta, 2000.

Johannes Poethen (born September 13, 1928 in Wickrath ; † May 9, 2001 in Stuttgart ) was a German writer .

Life

Johannes Poethen, whose father was a secondary school teacher, attended schools in Cologne , Weingarten and Malching / Upper Bavaria . In 1944 he was drafted as an anti-aircraft helper. After the end of the Second World War , he made his Abitur in Cologne in 1948 and then studied German and classical philology (with a focus on Greek mythology ) at the University of Tübingen . From 1949 he made several trips to Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean. Then Poethen lived as a freelance writer in Hirschau inTübingen . From 1956 he was a freelancer for the Süddeutscher Rundfunk in Stuttgart . From 1978 to 1991 he was head of the literature and art department at the same station. He was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Writers' House . From 1986 until his death he lived alternately in Stuttgart and Vrachati / Peloponnese in Greece.

Johannes Poethen mainly wrote poems that were initially formally influenced by poets like Eichendorff and Hölderlin and (like his numerous essays) were strongly influenced by the experience of Greek literature and culture. In the seventies, Poethen made a turn to freer forms in which he dealt critically with problems of contemporary society.

Memberships, honors and awards

Johannes Poethen had been a member of the Association of German Writers since 1967 (from 1977 to 1991 he was chairman of the Baden-Württemberg regional association) and of the PEN Center Germany since 1970 .

He received u. a. The following awards: 1959 the Hugo Jacobi Prize , 1962 the Promotion Prize for Literature of the City of Cologne , 1967 the Promotion Prize for the Immermann Prize of the City of Düsseldorf , 1976 the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon and in 1988 the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class, 1990 the Literature Prize of the City of Stuttgart and in 1998 the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg . In 2000 he was appointed commander of the Greek Order of the Phoenix.

Works

Laurel over a starry head , Düsseldorf [a. a.] 1952
Cracks of Heaven , Esslingen 1956
Silence in the dry thorn , Esslingen 1958
Arrival and echo , Frankfurt am Main 1961
Tree poem , Stuttgart 1961
Episode with Antifanta , Stierstadt im Taunus 1962
Poems , Darmstadt 1963
Residence between the breaths , Hamburg 1966
Crane dance , Stuttgart 1967
In the name of mourning , Hamburg [u. a.] 1969
From the infinite cold , Darmstadt 1970
Poems 1946-1971 , Hamburg 1973
Rattenfest im Jammertal , Düsseldorf 1976
The breath of Greece , Düsseldorf 1977
Oh earth, you old woman , Leonberg 1978
Otto buys a car , Hanover 1978
Oh earth, you old man , Stuttgart 1981
In memoriam Gries , Hauzenberg 1984
Schwarz das All , Scheer 1984
These words too , Weingarten 1985
One morning over the Gulf , Warmbronn 1986
Urland Hellas , Weingarten 1987
Who holds the ladder to heaven , Karlsruhe 1988
In search of Apollon , Tübingen 1992
The seagulls of Hagia Sophia , Warmbronn 1992
The nothing wants to be fed , Weißach im Tal 1995
Between space and nothing , Ettingen 1995
You between the lines , Tübingen 1996
As long as the game lasts , Warmbronn 1998
From Kos to Corfu , Eggingen 1998
After all the hexameters , Stuttgart 2001
In Bruder Sphären Wettgesang , Leonberg 2003

Selected poems

Festa (The wine sleeps in the red cups)
BREATHE child breathe
DELIVERED to the scream with the countless limbs

Editing

Stuttgart reader , Karlsruhe 1989

literature

Jochen Kelter (Ed.): I am only in words , Warmbronn 1988
Usch Pfaffinger (Hrsg.): And smiling takes you with a sigh of relief with the Delphin , Stuttgart 2001

Web links

Literature by and about Johannes Poethen in the catalog of the German National Library
Michael Basse : The long way of Johannes Poethen . First published in: Sirene , magazine for literature. Volume 2, Munich 1988, ( ISSN 0999-7423 ), pp. 133-144

Individual evidence

↑ The above three poems are from: Hans Bender (Ed.), Gegenpiel. German poetry since 1945 , Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1962, without ISBN. The spelling of Johannes Poethen was adopted.

personal data
SURNAME	Poethen, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German writer
DATE OF BIRTH	September 13, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wickrath
DATE OF DEATH	May 9, 2001
Place of death	Stuttgart

[1] The above three poems are from: Hans Bender (Ed.), Gegenpiel. German poetry since 1945 , Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1962, without ISBN. The spelling of Johannes Poethen was adopted.