Paweł Huelle

Paweł Huelle

Paweł Marek Huelle (born September 10, 1957 in Danzig ) is a Polish writer .

biography

After studying literature at Gdansk University , Paweł Huelle first worked as a journalist . From 1980 until Solidarność was banned in 1981, he worked in their press office. He was also a teacher of literature , philosophy and history . After the political change in Poland he was briefly director of the Third Polish Television in Gdansk in the 1990s.

Wise Dawidek

As a writer, Huelle immediately made a name for himself with his first novel Weiser Dawidek . The book was hailed by Polish critics as a masterpiece and the most important work of the 1980s. It has been translated into many languages ​​and filmed in 2000 by Wojciech Marczewski .

“ Isn't it quite simply the case that the author has put all those longings of Poles in the figure of Dawid Weiser, as if in a box: escape from stupidity, tyranny, terror of the collective. And on the other hand: cleverness, effectiveness, kindness and a peculiar sense of humor? In this work we can recognize the traits of the Jewish genius, who - expelled from Poland - still stamps us with a certain inadequacy and inadequacy. But this is only one of many possible interpretations with which we approach our incurable fears and needs that cannot be met. If so, then we are all looking for Dawid Weiser everywhere and everywhere. "

- Jerzy Jarzębski : blurb on Weiser Dawidek, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2006

Literary context

Similar to Günter Grass and his Gdansk colleague Stefan Chwin, his stories mainly revolve around the city of Gdansk, its history and its inhabitants. He succeeds in establishing a continuity between German history and Polish history in Danzig without any political animosity. In 2005, together with Cezary Harasimowicz and Klaus Richter , he wrote the screenplay for Robert Gliński's prophecies of doom - A Time of Reconciliation , the film adaptation of the Günter Grass novel of the same name.

Prizes and awards

In 1997 Paweł Huelle was nominated for the important Polish literature award Nike . In 2005 he was awarded the Samuel Bogumil Linde Prize .

Works

• Wise Dawidek . 1987 (German 1990, Luchterhand. ISBN 3-630-86720-0 )
• Snails, puddles, rain and other stories from Gdansk. 1996
• Silver rain. 2000
• Lost chapters. 2002
• Mercedes Benz. 2003
• Castorp. 2004
  In Castorp , Huelle refers to the literary figure Hans Castorp from Thomas Mann's Zauberberg and tells the story of the student Hans Castorp in Danzig, which is not explicitly told in the Zauberberg . There it just says: ... at that time he had been studying for four semesters at the Danzig Polytechnic ... Huelle has historical figures such as the founding director of the university, Hans von Mangoldt , appear. On long walks and excursions, Castorp gets to know Gdansk and the surrounding area (especially the seaside resort of Sopot ). He suffers from a depressive phase and an unhappy love. The mood of the time such as resentment of the Germans against Poles and Kashubians as well as the political situation in Russia form the background of the novel.

Web links

• Literature by and about Paweł Huelle in the catalog of the German National Library