Peter Prange

Peter Prange, 2005

Peter Prange (born September 22, 1955 in Altena ) is a German writer .

Life

Prange grew up in Altena in the Sauerland , where his parents ran a bed shop. As a teenager he did show jumping and dressage riding . According to his own statement, he received his basic literary training when he accompanied his father as a boy for more than ten years with deliveries and listened to the personal stories of customers. That fascinated him as a child and he spun the stories he had heard, said Prange in September 2019.

After studying Romance studies , German studies and philosophy in Göttingen , Perugia , Paris and Tübingen, he received his doctorate with a thesis on the moral history of the Enlightenment . The fact that he did not take over the bed business was viewed by his parents as “with a laughing and a crying eye” according to Prange: His parents did not have the opportunity to go to higher education, and his father in particular suffered from the fact that he could not attend high school. On the one hand, his father was proud that his son was studying, on the other hand, he was worried that he could make a living from it. August 19, 1989, he said, made him a writer when he saw a report on television about GDR citizens who crossed the border into Hungary. At that moment, the vision of a story came to him, said Prange. After professional positions in business (in the 1990s he worked temporarily as a management consultant) and science, Prange lives as a freelance writer with his wife and their daughter in Tübingen .

In addition to novels, his works also include non-fiction and screenplays. His books have been translated into a total of 19 languages ​​and have a total international circulation of over 2.5 million copies. Prange's breakthrough as a novelist came in 1999 with the German-German family story The Amber Amulet . The novel was filmed in 2004 as a two-parter for ARD. “It has always been my greatest hope in life that I can write a story that takes place in Altena, my hometown.” With Our wonderful years: A German fairy tale , this opportunity arose. This is his “most personal book,” said Prange in 2019 about the work, which was filmed in three parts .

The Weltenbauer trilogy

His Weltenbauer trilogy achieved particular fame . It consists of the three historical novels The Principessa (2003), The Philosopher (2003) and The Rebel (originally titled Miss Emily Paxton , 2005). Prange referred to the common theme of these three books as “man's search for paradise on earth”. In 2006 he received the Sir Walter Scott Prize - Bronze Laurel for Miss Emily Paxton .

While the Principessa , in whose center the artists Bernini and Borromini stand, plays theological rigor in baroque Rome, in the philosopher in the Paris of the Enlightenment, courageous free spirits, Diderot and Sophie Volland , overcome the dogmas of tradition and claim paradise already on earth. In The Rebel in 19th Century London, the dream of earthly bliss now seems to be fulfilled by the first world exhibition that brings together the achievements of all peoples and nations in one place.

Awards

• 2015 Bronze Homer in the Biography category for Ich, Maximilian, Kaiser der Welt

Works

Non-fiction

• Paradise in the boudoir. The glamor and misery of erotic libertinage in the Age of Enlightenment . Hitzeroth, Marburg 1990. ISBN 3-89398-032-6 (also dissertation, University of Tübingen).
• Salomon Little . 1700-1761. For the 300th birthday . Barockmuseum , Salzburg 2000. ISBN 3-901925-24-4
• Dare to dream! The mental path to success . Knaur, Munich 2001. ISBN 3-426-66636-7 (Ratgeber-Mens Sana)
• It's my life. Instructions for self-living . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2005. ISBN 3-426-77845-9 (Former title Seven Paths to Failure ... and an exception to the rule )
• Values. From Plato to Pop; everything that connects us . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2006. ISBN 978-3-426-27392-0

Fiction

• The amber amulet. Story of a family from Germany . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 1999. ISBN 978-3-426-50558-8
• The Principessa . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2002. ISBN 978-3-426-63923-8
• The philosopher . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2004. ISBN 3-426-62771-X
• The rebel . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-426-50276-1 (former title Miss Emily Paxton )
• The last harem . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-426-19657-1
• The harem. Sensual encounters in the seraglio , together with Agnes Imhof . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-426-19832-2
• The seeker of God . Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2009. ISBN 978-3-426-19751-6 (novel about Gracia Nasi )
• Himmelsdiebe , Pendo, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-86612-274-1 .
• The Pope of Children , Pendo, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-86612-276-5 (novel about Benedict IX. ).
• Me, Maximilian, Kaiser der Welt , Fischer-Scherz, Frankfurt 2014. ISBN 978-3-651-00069-8
• The rose of the world , Fischer-Scherz, Frankfurt 2016. ISBN 978-3-651-02264-5
• Our wonderful years: A German fairy tale , Fischer-Scherz, Frankfurt 2016. ISBN 978-3-651-02503-5
• A family in Germany - time to hope, time to live , Fischer-Scherz, Frankfurt 2018. ISBN 978-3-651-02556-1
• A family in Germany - Hope at the end , Fischer-Scherz, Frankfurt 2019. ISBN 978-3-651-02502-8

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} writer Peter Prange | His breakthrough came in 1999 with "The Amber Amulet" | SWR1 people. Accessed January 7, 2020 (German). 

Web links

Commons : Peter Prange  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Peter Prange in the catalog of the German National Library
• AVA author section Peter Prange
• Homepage of the author