Reinhard Paul Becker

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Reinhard Paul Becker 1968

Reinhard Paul Becker (born August 11, 1928 in Iserlohn ; † June 15, 2006 in Rye (New York) ) was a German writer, translator and Germanist .

Life

Becker was the son of a metal lathe operator. Soldier from 1944 to 1945, he did his Abitur after the end of the war, where he was awarded the Scheffel Prize for his performance in German , and then studied literary history at Heidelberg University . In 1953 he came to the USA as an exchange student, where he initially studied at Yale University . As the manager of a Broadway show, he traveled through America and to Hong Kong , Manila and Singapore . He graduated from Columbia University , where he received his doctorate in 1967 with a thesis on the darkman's letters . He then worked as a lecturer in New York City . From 1965 until his retirement he taught German literature at New York University .

In 1966 he invited the members of Group 47 to New York before they traveled on to Princeton to meet there. Becker read a text of his own at Princeton. At this conference, Peter Handke first drew attention to himself with a spectacular appearance. Becker is of particular literary importance as a translator for Dylan Thomas . As early as 1952 he translated his Deaths and Entrances into German. In his own work, the reference to the bold metaphor and the rhapsodic pathos of his great role model can be seen. A first volume of poetry appeared in 1950, Die Arche unter dem Pilz (1955) and changes to a letter passage (1960) followed. The mystical world poem Kalter blows the unknown was published posthumously in 2006.

Works

  • The Christian legend. Narrative. Hermit Press, Stierstadt 1947.
  • Poems. Hermit Press, Stierstadt 1950.
  • The ark under the mushroom. Poems. Limes, Wiesbaden 1955.
  • Changes to a letter point. Poems. Limes, Wiesbaden 1960.
  • The unknown blows colder. Poem. In: Akzente Volume 4 (2006).

German Studies:

  • Satirical types and methods in the "Epistolae obscurorum virorum". Dissertation Columbia University 1967.
  • A war of fools. The letters of obscure men. A study of the satire and the satirized. Lang, Bern 1981, ISBN 3-261-04727-5 .
  • German humanism and reformation. Continuum, New York 1982, ISBN 0-8264-0261-5 .

Editor:

Translator:

  • Dylan Thomas : Tode und Tore / Deaths and entrances. Poems in English and German. Kerle, Heidelberg 1952.
  • Dylan Thomas: Under the milk forest. Dramatic, narrative, lyrical. A selection. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1958 (with Erich Fried ).
  • Dylan Thomas: work on word work. Poems and stories. Edited by B. Scheller. Reclam, Leipzig 1985.
  • Dylan Thomas: Wind-thrown light (= Vol. 2. of the selected works in individual editions ). Poems in English and German. Edited by K. Martens. Hanser, Munich a. a. 1992, ISBN 3-446-15080-3 (with Erich Fried et al.).
  • Dylan Thomas. Poems. Selected by Raoul Schrott . Hanser, Munich 1999.

literature

  • Michael Braun: Becker, Reinhard Paul. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . Authors and works from the German-speaking cultural area. 2., completely revised Ed. De Gruyter, Berlin 2008, vol. 1, p. 403.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek : The wild years of group 47. In: Die Welt from June 10, 2007
personal data
SURNAME Becker, Reinhard Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Becker, Reinhard P.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and Germanist
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Iserlohn
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 2006
Place of death Rye (New York)