Peter Beicken

Peter Beicken (born May 16, 1943 in Wuppertal - Barmen ) is a German Germanist and poet .

biography

Peter Beicken is a recognized expert on the work of Walter Benjamin , Ingeborg Bachmann and Franz Kafka . In addition, he worked intensively with Ilse Aichinger , Roberto Bernhard , Paul Celan , Marieluise Fleißer , Franz Fühmann , Irmgard Keun , Anna Seghers and Christa Wolf .

His publications include the standard works “ Kafka. A Critical Introduction to Research ”(1974),“ The Metamorphosis. A Comment "(1983, revised 1998)," Franz Kafka. Life and Work ”(1986, revised 1994) and“ Ingeborg Bachmann ”. His book " Childhood in W. - Poems and Prose " from 1983, for which he was awarded the sponsorship prize of the von der Heydt Culture Prize of the city of Wuppertal , is autobiographical .

In addition to literature, Beicken also deals with film analysis, in particular with the films by Wim Wenders and Peter Handke . He wrote the books “ How do you interpret a film? "And in English" The films of Wim Wenders ". He was editor of the Journal of the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German from 1998 to 2002 and President of the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German from 2003 to 2005 .

After graduating from high school at Mackensenstraße, Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, Beicken studied German, philosophy and history in Cologne, Bonn and Munich (Magister Artium, 1968). In 1971 he received his Ph.D. from Stanford University on "perspective and way of seeing in Kafka" and taught at Princeton University from 1971 to 1976. Since 1976 he has been Professor of German Studies and Film at the University of Maryland, College Park in the subjects German and Austrian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries with a focus on fin de siècle , expressionism , literature from the Weimar Republic , exile literature , post-war literature and literature from the GDR .

Peter Beicken received a teaching position at several universities, for example in 1987 as a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, at Georgetown University (1989), at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen (1997) and at the Bergische University of Wuppertal (1997 ). From 2003 to 2008 he led the College Park Scholars in the Arts learning project .

Poetry

Beicken has published regularly since 2006 in the serial journal TRANS-LIT2. In autumn 2011 his poem “Liebesaugenblick” was published there, dedicated to his wife Suzanne, who died of cancer in February 2011 after almost 44 years of marriage:

Love moment

In the crowd of the many guests,

who talk, laugh, make noise,

Raise glasses, toast ,

enjoy the abundant food,

our eyes go over

from the one look that says

come on let's go

before this mess us up

the wish is denied

the persistent in the silence

after the noise here.

Prizes and awards

• 1983: Sponsorship award of the von der Heydt culture award of the city of Wuppertal
• 1998: Elisabeth Frazer de Bussy Prose Prize

Works (selection)

• Franz Kafka. A critical introduction to research. Athenäum Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt 1974. 455 pages
• Franz Kafka: The transformation. Explanations and documents. Reclam, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-15-008155-6
• Friedhelm Pamp (Hrsg.) Rainer Frank (Hrsg.): Peter Beicken: Childhood in W. Poems - Prose. Paul-Hans Sievers, Wuppertal 1983, ISBN 3-88723-019-1
• Franz Kafka. Life and work. Klett, Stuttgart 1986. ISBN 3123519708
• Ingeborg Bachmann. Beck, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-32277-8
• together with Robert Kolker: The Films of Wim Wenders. Cinema as Vision and Desire . Cambridge University Press 1993, 198 pages, ISBN 0-521-38976-3
• Franz Kafka. The process. Interpreted by Peter Beicken. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1999 (2nd edition) 240 pages (Oldenbourg Interpretations Volume 70)
• Bach, threefold. Poems. Wuppertal 2001. 11 pages.
• Ingeborg Bachmann. Literary knowledge. Reclam, Stuttgart 2001. 167 pages. ISBN 3-15-015225-9 (Reclams Universal Library 15225 Literature Knowledge for School and Study)
• How do you interpret a film? For secondary level II. Reclam, Stuttgart 2004. 215 pages. ISBN 3-15-015227-5 (Reclam's Universal Library 15227 Literature Knowledge for Schoolchildren)
• Childhood in W. Poems. Nordpark Verlag, Wuppertal 2009. 82 pages.