Klaus Walther (writer)

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Klaus Walther, 2010

Klaus Walther (born March 25, 1937 in Chemnitz ) is a German literary scholar and writer .

Live and act

Walther grew up as the son of a box manufacturer in Kühnhaide in the Ore Mountains (today part of Zwönitz ). In 1955 he passed his Abitur at the Ernst Schneller Oberschule in Aue (today's Clemens Winkler Gymnasium, which he co-founded in 1991). After completing a degree in journalism (1957 to 1959), Walther studied literature from 1961 to 1964 at the Johannes R. Becher Institute of Literature , where he then worked as a senior assistant for prose. From 1964 to 1978 he was editor at the Mitteldeutscher Verlag , and from 1978 to 1983 director of the district art center in Karl-Marx-Stadt. The first essays were published in 1957. As a literary critic he worked, among other things, as the editor of the annual criticism volumes with Eberhard Günther and Werner Liersch . The focus of his literary work was on authors from the GDR such as Erik Neutsch , Erwin Strittmatter , Helmut Richter , but also representatives of world literature such as Charles Sealsfield , Konstantin Paustowski and especially Hermann Hesse (film, essay, biography). In 1967 he initiated the annual literary meeting in Zwönitz in the VEB Meßgerätewerk Zwönitz, in which musicologists, composers, graphic artists, actors, television dramatists and filmmakers took part. With a dissertation with the title Bodo Uhse , Leben und Werk - An attempt at an interpretation , Walther was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD .

Since then he has worked as a freelance publisher, literary and theater critic and author. Walther was a member of the GDR Writers' Association , belonged to the SED district leadership in Karl-Marx-Stadt and had been awarded the GDR Medal of Merit for his work . Since 1957 he was under permanent observation by the Ministry for State Security .

After the political change , Walther headed the Chemnitzer Verlag (the book program of the Free Press ) from 1991 to 2001 and has been an independent publishing consultant, author and editor since he left the company. Since 1991 Walther has been deputy chairman of the Saxon Writers' Association in Chemnitz. Also in 1991 he founded the bookstore "Bücher Walther", which now has branches in Stollberg , Zwönitz, Aue and Thalheim . In addition, from 1996 to 1999 he was chairman of the regional association of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia in the German book trade association and has been a member of the PEN Center Germany since 2002 . So far, he has published over 40 books with primarily regional or bibliophile content as an author or editor.

Walther lives in the mountain town of Zwönitz , from which he was made an honorary citizen on March 23, 2002 in recognition of his work .

Works (selection)

  • The captive of the pirates. An adventurous story about Martin Behaim . Knabe-Verlag, Weimar 1961.
  • Mountain Country Mosaic. A book from the Erzgebirge. (together with Manfred Blechschmidt ). Greifenverlag, Rudolstadt 1969.
  • Bohemian walks. Travel between Cheb and Ústí nad Labem. (with Manfred Blechschmidt). VEB FA Brockhaus Verlag, Leipzig 1978.
  • Vogtland pictures. Miniatures of a landscape. (with Manfred Blechschmidt). Greifenverlag, Rudolstadt 1979.
  • Ten minutes to Buffalo. American moments. Greifenverlag, Rudolstadt 1986. ISBN 978-3-7352-0007-5 .
  • Erzgebirge Lexicon. (with Manfred Blechschmidt). Chemnitzer Verlag, Chemnitz 1991. ISBN 978-3-928678-01-8 .
  • The big Saxon Christmas book. Weidlich / Flechsig, Würzburg 1993. ISBN 978-3-8035-1370-0 .
  • Live with books. Stationery & printed matter. Chemnitzer Verlag, Chemnitz 1995. ISBN 978-3-928678-21-6
  • Silver Ore Mountains. The big book from the German Christmas land. (with Manfred Blechschmidt). Chemnitzer Verlag, 3rd edition, [Chemnitz] 1999. ISBN 978-3-928678-41-4 .
  • The big book from Vogtland. Travel between Elster and Saale. (with Manfred Blechschmidt). Chemnitzer Verlag, Chemnitz 1999. ISBN 978-3-928678-52-0 .
  • Hermann Hesse . dtv, Munich 2002. ISBN 978-3-423-31062-8 .
  • Karl May . dtv, Munich 2002. ISBN 978-3-423-31056-7 .
  • Collect books. Small philosophy of passions. dtv, Munich 2004. ISBN 978-3-423-34142-4 .
  • Ore Mountains. Travel Guide. Chemnitzer Verlag, Chemnitz 2004.
  • What should you read? A seducer of reading. Faber & Faber, Leipzig 2005. ISBN 978-3-936618-67-9 .
  • The beautiful month of May. A memory. dtv, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-423-34398-5 .
  • The Saxon threesome murder. Detective novel. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2008. ISBN 978-3-360-01953-0 .
  • Erik Neutsch . Trace of life. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2010. ISBN 978-3-360-01985-1 .
  • Burgundy is as red as blood. Detective novel. Chemnitzer Verlag, Chemnitz 2011. ISBN 978-3-937025-67-4 .
  • Karl May. A Saxon biography. Chemnitzer Verlag, [Chemnitz] 2012. ISBN 978-3-937025-89-6 .
  • The Erzgebirgskreis. Landscape, history, present. (Ed. For the writers' association Chemnitz-Erzgebirge eV). Mironde, [Niederfrohna] 2013. ISBN 978-3-937654-42-3 .
  • Have you read all of this? A book for readers and collectors. (Ed. Together with Dieter Lehnhardt). Mironde, Niederfrohna 2014. ISBN 978-3-937654-80-5 .
  • Romantic songs and a corpse. A book thriller. Mironde, [Niederfrohna] 2015. ISBN 978-3-937654-87-4 .
  • The bookmakers. From publishers and their publishers. Quintus, Berlin 2017. ISBN 978-3-945256-89-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Eichenthal: Klaus Walther on his 75th birthday , Mironde-Verlag, accessed on April 27, 2017.
  2. ^ Förderverein Clemens-Winkler-Gymnasium Aue , accessed on October 21, 2012
  3. ↑ a b c Matthias Zwarg , Ulrich Hammerschmidt: Ein Bücherleben , in: Freie Presse from March 25, 2017, p. A1.
  4. ↑ Portrait of the author at Chemnitzer Verlag , accessed on October 1, 2012
  5. ↑ Portrait of the author in the Chemnitz authors' lexicon , accessed on August 19, 2012
  6. ↑ Eberhard Günther: Publisher - is more than a job. Memories. Projects publ. Cornelius, Halle 2010. ISBN 978-3-86634-849-3 .
  7. ↑ ND of June 10, 1976, p. 4.
  8. ^ ND of September 20, 1982, p. 4.
  9. ↑ DNB catalog
  10. ^ ND of April 9, 1981, p. 3.
  11. ↑ Freie Presse of February 14, 1997, communication BStU Chemnitz 000248/96 C. of July 5, 1997
personal data
SURNAME Walther, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German literary scholar and writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz