Martin Kämchen

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Martin Kämchen (born December 9, 1948 in Boppard ) is a German religious scholar , author , translator and journalist who is dedicated to German-Indian cultural exchange.

resume

Kämchen attended the modern language high school in Boppard (Rhine). Before graduating from high school, he spent a year as an exchange student in the USA and completed the American High School Diploma in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In 1967 he became a conscientious objector, which at that time was connected with a hearing by a tribunal of the Ministry of Defense. He studied German , theater and philosophy in Vienna and French in Paris. He received his PhD in 1973 in Vienna to Dr. phil. He then went to India , where he first taught German and then studied comparative religion . He obtained his second doctorate there with a dissertation in the subject of comparative religious studiesRamakrishna and Francis of Assisi .

In 1980 he moved to the small town of Shantiniketan in West Bengal , where Rabindranath Tagore lived and worked. Further residences are Kalimpong in the foothills of the Himalayas , the Siwaliks , in the Darjiling and Boppard districts.

Kampfchen has translated works by Tagore and Ramakrishna from Bengali into German, while Svami Vivekananda has translated from English. In addition, he has published non-fiction books on Indian culture, in particular on the literatures of India, and Indian religions, as an author or editor. Kämchen published diaries, short stories, a novel, anthologies and essays in Germany. He is the editor of the nine-volume scientific book series "Classics of Eastern Meditation / Spirituality of India" (Zurich 1986–1992).

He also researches the cultural relations between Germany and India in the 20th century; The focus is on: Tagore and Germany, Hermann Hesse and Günter Grass as well as India in the German literature of the 20th century.

He has been writing regularly about India for the FAZ's feature pages since 1995 and gives lectures and readings in Germany several times a year. In India he is a columnist for the English daily newspaper The Statesman (Calcutta / New Delhi) and The Telegraph (Calcutta).

Since 1984 he has been seeking alternative development aid (in the sense of "helping people to help themselves") in the two Santal villages of Ghosaldanga and Bishnubati near Shantiniketan. In 2007 the Friends of Ghosaldanga and Bishnubati eV was founded in Frankfurt. In 1984, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2008, 2015 and 2018, Kämpchen organized multi-week tours with representatives (singers, dancers, artists) of village culture in Germany and Austria with events on the topic of "An Indian village introduces itself" in schools and in front of adults.

Awards and grants

  • Rabindranath Tagore Literature Prize of the German-Indian Society 1990.
  • Rabindra Puraskar (Rabindranath Tagore Prize of the West Bengal Government, Calcutta) 1992.
  • Journalist Prize for Development Policy of the German Federal Government 1993.
  • Ashok Kumar Sarkar Vritti (Fellowship from Ananda Publishers, Calcutta) 1994–97.
  • Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (February 24, 1999)
  • Literature grant from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Bonn) 2000.
  • Creative Writers' Fellowship of Hawthornden Castle (Edinburgh) 2000.
  • Rabindranath Tagore Prize of the Rabindra-Bharati Society (Calcutta) 2006.
  • Two awards from the Tagore Research Institute (Calcutta).
  • Ananyasamnān of the 24 ghanta television channel (Calcutta) 2010.
  • Merck-Tagore Award (from Merck, Darmstadt, and the Goethe-Institut, Kolkata) 2012.
  • Residence grant from the State of Rhineland-Palatinate in the Künstlerhaus Edenkoben (Palatinate) April to June 2013; September 2014.
  • Residence grant from the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla ( Himachal Pradesh , India) as a "Tagore Fellow" from September 2016 to April 2018.

Works

  • 1979: Krishna's flute. Religious love poetry from India . Collected and translated. (Texts for reflection) Herder, Freiburg
  • 1980: Christian retreat in dialogue with Hinduism . A reading and exercise book. Verlag Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer (with Ignatius Puthiadam)
  • 1991: Rabindranath Tagore and Germany: A Documentation. Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe-Institut), Calcutta
  • 1999: Rabindranath Tagore in Germany: Four Responses to a Cultural Icon . Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla
  • 1999: "From the freedom of imagination ..." India in German-language literature 1900–1999. Die Horen 196, Bremerhaven 1999 (anthology)
  • 2000: The Flute Player's Secret , novel. Peter Hammer Wuppertal, 2nd edition
  • 2001: as editor: My Broken Love - Günter Grass in India and Bangladesh , Viking, New Delhi / New York City 2001, ISBN 978-0-670-91143-1 ; German edition: I want to penetrate the heart of Calcutta. Günter Grass in India and Bangladesh . Edition Isele, Eggingen, 2005
  • 2002: Francis lives everywhere. His traces in the world religions . Real publishing house, Würzburg
  • 2005: as editor: Rabindranath Tagore - The golden boat. Poetry, prose, dramas . Translated from Bengali by Rahul Peter Das, Alokeranjan Dasgupta, Hans Harder, Lothar Lutze and Martin Kämpchen; from the English by Andor Orand Carius and Axel Monte. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf ("Winkler World Literature" series)
  • 2006: Ghosaldanga - stories from everyday Indian life . Wallstein, Göttingen, ISBN 978-3-8353-0066-8
  • 2006: India. A travel companion . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt (Insel Taschenbuch 2996) 2nd edition
  • 2006: Rabindranath Tagore - love poems . Selected and translated from Bengali. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt (Insel Taschenbuch 2988), 3rd edition
  • 2008: Shri Ramakrishna - Conversations with his disciples . Selected, translated from Bengali, with introduction and commentary. World Religions Publishing House, Frankfurt
  • 2008: Dialogue of Cultures. An interfaith perspective from India . Bautz, Nordhausen, 2nd edition (collected essays)
  • 2009: Svami Vivekananda - Ways of Yoga. Speeches and essays . Selected, translated from English, with introduction and commentary. Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig, Publishing House of World Religions, ISBN 978-3-458-70019-7 .
  • 2009: just do it. 44 steps to the art of living . Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek, ISBN 978-3-644-42051-9 .
  • 2011: as editor: From the Guru Granth Sāhib and other sacred writings of the Sikhs . Selected, translated from Panjābī and Braj and commented on by Tilak Raj Chopra and Heinz Werner Wessler. World Religions Publishing House, Berlin
  • 2011: life without poverty. How help can really help - my experiences in India . Herder, Freiburg
  • 2011: Rabindranath Tagore . Rowohlt Monographs No. 50399, Rowohlt, Reinbek, 4th edition, ISBN 978-3-499-50399-3
  • 2011: Edited with Prasanta Kumar Paul: My Dear Master. Correspondence 1920–1938 Rabindranath Tagore / Helene Meyer-Franck and Heinrich Meyer-Benfey . From the English by Ingrid von Heiseler. Draupadi, Heidelberg
  • 2011: Rabīndranāth Tagore and Germany . German Schiller Society, Marbach / German Literature Archive (Marbacher Magazin 134)
  • 2011: Rabindranath Tagore - poems and songs . Selected and translated from Bengali. Insel, Berlin
  • 2013: Rabindranath Tagore - The world is full of life . (Poems) Selected and translated from Bengali. Herder, Freiburg
  • 2014: The right measure. 21 steps to the art of living . Four towers, Münsterschwarzach
  • 2014: The Hidden Side of the Moon. Musings of a life between India and Europe . Niyogi Books, Delhi
  • 2014 Edited with Imre Bangha: Rabindranath Tagore: One Hundred Years of Global Reception . Orient BlackSwan, Delhi
  • 2015: Peppercorns. A narrative cycle from India . Kitab-Verlag, Klagenfurt, ISBN 978-3-902878-52-6
  • 2015: noted in the evening. 147 Invitations to pause . Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach.
  • 2016: be truthful. 7 steps to the art of living. Patmos, Ostfildern, ISBN 978-3-8436-0821-3
  • 2016: as editor: Gitanjali Reborn. William Radice's Writings on Rabindranath Tagore . Social Science Press, New Delhi 2016, ISBN 978-93-83166-15-2
  • 2016: Anubhave Anudhyane Rabindranath [Selected Bengali essays on Rabindaranth Tagore]. Translated by Jaykrishna Kayal and others. Karigar, Kolkata 2016; 2nd edition 2018, ISBN 978-93-81640-66-1
  • 2017: Life Journeys - 9 attempts to get closer to a distance. Vier-Türme, Münsterschwarzach, ISBN 978-3-7365-0059-4
  • 2017: Together We are Strong! Ramu and Tara Grow Up in the Himalayas. Ponytale Books, Delhi, ISBN 978-93-80637-21-1
  • 2019: What makes life shine. 147 little mindfulnesses . Vier-Türme, Münsterschwarzach, ISBN 978-3-7365-0282-6

literature

  • Spiegel special 7/2006, An energetic thinker , p. 32 (article about Martin Kämpchen)
  • Martin Kämchen, My 45 Years in India , in: Meine Welt , No. 1/2019, pp. 21-25
  • Andreas Platthaus : Martin Kämpchen 70, in: FAZ No. 286, December 8, 2018, p. 8.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dissertation: Representation of the inhumanity and cruelty in the literature on the First and Second World War .
  2. ↑ About us. Friends of Ghosaldanga and Bishnubati eV
  3. ↑ Office of the Federal President
  4. ↑ Scholarship holders. Künstlerhaus Edenkoben
personal data
SURNAME Little girl, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author, translator and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Boppard