Joochen Laabs

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Joochen Laabs (born July 3, 1937 in Dresden ) is a German writer .

Joochen Laabs (2017)

Life

Joochen Laabs is the son of a businessman . He grew up in Hänchen near Cottbus . After attending secondary school from 1951 to 1955, he worked as a tram driver in Cottbus in 1955/56. From 1956 to 1961 studied at the University of Transport in Dresden . He completed his studies with a degree in engineering and economics and worked from 1962 to 1975 as a group leader in the research center for motor and urban traffic of the GDR in Dresden . From 1975 he lived in Berlin , where he was part of the editorial team of the literary magazine " Temperamente " from 1976 to 1978 . After he and the entire editorial team had been fired as a result of the Biermann protest , Laabs became a freelance writer . In 1986, 1991 and 1997 he was visiting professor at American universities . Today he lives in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania .

Joochen Laabs is the author of novels , stories and poems . He became known in the 1960s for his lyrical works, which at the time were considered an expression of a modern socialist attitude towards life due to their everyday themes and their youthful tone. In Laabs' novels and stories, too, the psychologically nuanced portrayal of everyday life prevails. In “Der Ausbruch” the reflection on marital paralysis turns into a criticism of corresponding phenomena in the GDR reality. In his novel "Der Schattenfänger" he deals with the problem of being a writer in the late phase of the GDR , in "Späte Reise" he processes his experiences from his stays in the USA .

Joochen Laabs belonged since 1969 to the Writers' Union of the GDR and from 1985 PEN -Zentrum the GDR on. From 1993 he was Secretary General of the East German PEN Center and from 1999 to 2001 Vice President of the PEN Center Germany . Laabs was awarded the Erich Weinert Medal in 1972 , the Martin Andersen Nexö Art Prize of the City of Dresden in 1973 and the Uwe Johnson Prize in 2006.

Joochen Laabs is married to the author Daniela Dahn . Their daughter is the director Laura Laabs .

Works

  • A tram for Nefertiti. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1970.
  • The grass house or the division of 35,000 women into two men. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1971.
  • The other half of the world. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1974.
  • Heavenly carelessness. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1978.
  • The outbreak. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1979.
  • Everyone wants to be king. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1983.
  • The last star. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1988.
  • The shadow catcher. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1989.
  • Secret landscape. Göttingen: Steidl 2001.
  • Late trip. Göttingen: Steidl 2006.
  • Cottbus your poets , within the series The Window of the Cottbus Municipal Collections. Cottbus: Regia 2011. ISBN 978-3-86929-208-3
  • Unjustified lament , poetry. Berlin: Quintus 2017. ISBN 978-3-945256-94-7 .

Anthologies and literary journals (selection)

Editing

  • Midlife. A generation takes stock. Stories from the GDR. Darmstadt: Luchterhand-Literaturverlag 1988. [together with Manfred Wolter]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Laabs, Joochen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden