Rolf Vollmann

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Rolf Vollmann (* 1934 in Treptow an der Rega ) is a German author and literary critic who lives in Tübingen.

Life

Vollmann went to school in Kulm on the Vistula and in Bremen . In Marburg , Munich , Göttingen and Tübingen he studied German and philosophy, among other things . In 1975 he published a book about Jean Paul . In 1980 he told Darwin's journey around the world as a children's book. In 1988 there were works about Arno Schmidt and William Shakespeare . In the 1990s he published a novel guide and novel navigator. In addition to his books, Vollmann wrote literary reviews, including in the timeand published in the FAZ . In 1992 Vollmann was awarded the Stuttgart City Literature Prize. In 2011 he received the Ben Witter Prize and in 2014 a scholarship for the Künstlerhof Schreyahn . He is a member of the PEN Center Germany .

Shakespeare's Ark

The work, published in 1988 in the series The Other Library , contains short summaries of the dramas and an alphabetical index of all characters who appear in the stage works. Vollmann takes into account all the names that he has found in the various Shakespeare translations. In addition to the characters involved, important key words and rare terms are also sorted alphabetically, such as the components of the witch's potion from Macbeth .

Shakespeare's Ark was published in an abbreviated form under the title Who's Who by Shakespeare as a paperback. A Polish translation has been available since 2003 under the name Arka Szekspira .

The wonderful counterfeiters

The work published in 1997 in the series The Other Library originally comprised two volumes, in later editions the two volumes were combined. In contrast to other novel guides produced by author communities, a single author read each novel under review. The work, advertised as a seducer of novels , contains short descriptions in the form of a chronology for each year from 1800 to 1930. Vollmann discusses novels published in the respective year, he also welcomes newborn authors and writes funerary speeches. The life and work of some authors is followed in parallel biographies.

When it was published in 1997, the work was highly praised by the critics and appeared as a recommendation both on fiction lists such as the SWR best list and on lists of non-fiction books. This followed the fact that Vollmann's book is stylistically very different from usual non-fiction books when he works with pansy or exuberant praise when discussing the novels and novelists .

The novel navigator

While Vollmann was working on the counterfeiters , he published a series in the FAZ from June 1995 under the title Durchs Jahrhundert des Romans . In this series, Vollmann reviewed one novel from one year each week. It started in 1930 and William Faulkner's When I Was Dying and then went back a year every week. Originally the series was supposed to end with the elective affinities in 1809 , but it continued until 1759 and the Life and Views of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman .

For the book edition, Vollmann added the series in the other direction, starting with 1959 and the tin drum . Contrary to the title of the FAZ series, the book thus spans two centuries.

Works (selection)

items
  • Island of smiling poverty. In: Geo-Magazin. Hamburg 1980, 10, pp. 64-84. Experience report: Mauritius, on this island the sugar cane, which was introduced by colonizers, is omnipresent. Still, the author found a little world to daydream. ISSN  0342-8311

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vollmann, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author and literary critic
DATE OF BIRTH 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Treptow at Rega