Walter Moers

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Walter Moers [ mœɐ̯s ] (* 24. May 1957 in Mönchengladbach ) is a German comic - artist , illustrator and writer . He is the inventor of the character of Captain Bluebear and became an international bestselling author with his Zamonien novels .

Life

After finishing school, Walter Moers lived from casual work, then began a commercial apprenticeship and taught himself to draw. He is considered to be public shy, gives only a few interviews and rarely allows himself to be photographed, which has now become a kind of trademark of him. Therefore, biographical information about Walter Moers, including the name, should be treated with caution, as there are no really reliable sources. In view of the threatening letters Moers received from right-wing extremists as a result of the publication of his Adolf comics , this fear of publicity also serves him as protection.

Walter Moers lives in Hamburg .

plant

Stories for children

Käpt'n Blaubär and Hein Blöd on the Gera in Erfurt. This sculpture represents the level of awareness of the characters.

The first story about Käpt'n Blaubär appeared in 1988 and has since found wide distribution on television, in children's books, radio plays and as a musical.

Another figure known to children in books and television ( Wolff and Rüffel ) was the omniscient genius Schimauski, who is able to get to the bottom of all kinds of questions asked and not asked. Schimauski, but then as Prof. Dr. Abdul Nachtigaller and Käpt'n Blaubär find a complex further development in the Zamonia novels intended for adults .

comics

Moers has published since 1984. His first publication appeared in the German comic fanzine PLOP . He first became known for cartoon-like comics, which are characterized by an ironic attitude and deliberate violation of political correctness . Many works appeared in the satirical magazines Kowalski and Titanic and - at least once - in The Raven . The Titanic released some episodes of Deadman, the dead superhero , in 2001/2002 .

Moers' best-known comic characters are:

  • The little asshole , a precocious and disrespectful little boy who is fundamentally superior to adults.
  • The old Sack , a doomed pensioner in a wheelchair, commenting sarcastically on his surroundings.
  • Adolf, the Nazi pig , a satire that brings Adolf Hitler into today's world and continuously depicts him as a pathetic, ridiculous figure.
  • Der Fönig , a "Moerschen" for adults about war, peace, fellatio and cunnilingus .

Zamonia novels

Based on Käpt'n Blaubär , the first Zamonia novel was published in 1999: The 13½ Lives of Captain Blaubär . With the Captain Bluebear from the show with the mouse , however, this novel only has to do to a limited extent. In contrast to the grandfather's narrator from television, Bluebear is still young in the book and, with his kind of stories, is aimed at at least a young, if not adult, reading audience. The special characteristic of Captain Blaubärs and his life story lies in the descriptions of the fictional world of Zamonia , which, presented in detail on a specially developed map, is home to countless mythical creatures, but also to brilliant scientists. This complex world full of irony and satirical cross-references has been the basis of seven other novels so far. As in almost all of his books, all of the illustrations are from the author himself.

In the second Zamonia novel Ensel und Krete , the dinosaur Hildegunst von Mythenmetz appears as the alleged author for the first time. Walter Moers consequently only stages himself as the “translator” of the work from Zamon into German. Captain Blaubär only appears marginally. The fairy tale Hansel and Gretel suggested in the title is also barely recognizable.

The third novel in the series, Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln , is sometimes quite brutal. For example, cyclops play a role, whose nutritional basis consists of living things of all kinds. The prey is always eaten alive. The Cyclops find it all the better, the more their prey is stubborn by screaming and wriggling. Fencing duels, battles and torture machines are no less bloody. The red (silver) thread of the book (life) is the life and love story of Wolpertinger Rumo.

On September 9, 2004, the fourth volume in the series, The City of Dreaming Books , was published again with Hildegunst von Mythenmetz as the alleged author in the lead role. At the end of this book, Walter Moers asks his readers to help him decide which book to “translate” from the Zamon language next. He presents the second adventure of Mythenmetz in the catacombs of Buchhaim and one of his adventures in the cemetery town of Dullsgard. On September 9, 2005, Moers was awarded the Fantastic Prize of the City of Wetzlar , which is endowed with 4,000 euros, for The City of Dreaming Books .

The fifth Zamonia novel, Der Schrecksenmeister , was published on August 20, 2007. It is again a novel by Hildegunst von Mythenmetz , which Moers has "translated" from Zamonic, and which is based on the novella Spiegel, the kitten from the cycle The people of Seldwyla is based on Gottfried Keller .

On October 5, 2011, the sixth of the Zamonien novels was published with the title The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books . Since Moers had changed publisher in advance, the book was published by Knaus Verlag . It is a continuation of the fourth volume. The action takes place again in the city of Buchhaim; but the novel is unfinished: the volume is, as one learns only in the epilogue, merely the so-called overture for Hildegunst von Mythenmetz's second adventure. The actual story of the book title only begins in the last chapter; its “translation” from Zamonic is announced for the next volume, which was originally due to appear in October 2014. As early as 2011, Moers announced that this sequel would be entitled The Castle of Dreaming Books .

After the publication of the volume was postponed indefinitely, another Mythenmetz novel called The Island of a Thousand Lighthouses was announced instead . On March 20, 2017, Wolfgang Ferchl, Moers' publisher, finally announced another work with the title Princess Insomnia & the Nightmare Nightmare in an online video . This seventh Zamonia novel was published on August 28, 2017. In contrast to almost all previous works, the illustrations are not by Moers himself, but by Lydia Rode . In November 2018, the letter novel Christmas was published on the Lindwurmfeste . On March 25, 2019, the book Der Bücherdrache was published , which is also set on Zamonien and whose main character is Buchling Hildegunst Zwei .

style

Overall, Moers' style is strongly influenced by the tradition of the grotesque . The prose itself is easy to understand and is partly influenced by everyday language, but both the drawings and the names, figures and motifs are strongly reminiscent of Rabelais / Fischart (see Gargantua et Pantagruel ), ETA Hoffmann and other European authors in their overdrawing and wild fantasy that fit into this tradition. Rabelais / Fischart is mainly reminiscent of the constantly recurring list style, which manifests itself in pages of lists of names, dishes, songs, etc. Moers has accordingly dedicated a book of his own to the great illustrator of such works, Gustave Doré (including Gargantua et Pantagruel ) (Wilde Reise durch die Nacht) .

Closely related to this tradition are the connections between Moers' oeuvre and European horror literature and comedy tradition . The comic and the gruesome combine to form a grotesque oeuvre. The stories about Prof. Dr. Abdul Nachtigaller or the Schrecksenmeister stand for example. B. in close connection to the tradition of the night plays , the gothic novel (Frankenstein, The Monk) and the black romanticism (see ETA Hoffmann), while above all figures like the blue bear can be read as descendants of a Don Quixote .

Central to all Zamonie books are the word games , allusions and anagrams , which document the author's enormous delight in language, literature and history. If you read carefully, you will always find an abundance of anagrammed names, hidden text and picture quotations. For example, most of the poems in The City of Dreaming Books have been taken over by great poets, slightly modified, and the names of the fictional poets that appear in the book are also mostly more or less difficult to understand anagrams of the names of real great poets (e B. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ⇒ Ojahnn Golgo van Fontheweg). Various websites designed by fans of the novels collect and decipher these allusions. In a way, this was already the case in the "old" Blaubär for children, when Blaubär claims that the bears were the pioneers of flight, namely Otto Lilienbär , Charles Lindbär and the Blaue Bäron .

Many of the word games are also visual in nature. Names and designations stand out mainly because of their spelling. Typographic means such as different fonts and font sizes are very often used to illustrate what is being written. Here, too, and above all because of the handling of text-image references, parallels between Moers' literature and medieval folk books , fables , epics , etc. can be made out.

In terms of content, Moers, like most modern fantasy and fantasy authors, makes use of medieval and ancient literature and art as well as the Renaissance , Baroque and Romantic periods, be it sagas and legends , fables and fairy tales , myths and epics, magic and esotericism . The creative use of it, in combination with his enormous wealth of ideas and humor, creates a very special Moersian fantasy world, especially because the ancient and medieval elements are always mixed with clearly modern and postmodern, which significantly shapes the grotesque overall style and its originality contributes.

Other prose

In the 2001 novel Wild Journey through the Night , Moers describes the journey of twelve-year-old Gustave, who wants to become a great illustrator. Moers takes up the romantic zeitgeist of the 19th century and at the same time breaks it satirically.

For once, Moers did not add any of his own illustrations to his prose in this work, but instead used 21 illustrations by the French draftsman Gustave Doré , which inspired him to write this book.

With Der Fönig , Moers wrote a “Moerschen for Adults” in which he consistently swapped the letters F and K.

Overview

Children's books

  • The Schimauski Method. 1987.
  • Captain Blaubär's sailor's yarn. 3 volumes, 1990.

Satirical comics

Illustrated poetry

  • The animal. Picture story, 1987.

Illustrated prose

Zamonia novels

Zamonia

Chart successes

  • 2006: Adolf - I sit in my Bonker feat. Thomas Pigor - 54th place

Scripts

Graphic novels

Awards

Exhibitions

  • 2011: The 7 1/2 lives of Walter Moers - from the little asshole to Captain Bluebear to Zamonia. Exhibition in the Ludwig Gallery Schloss Oberhausen .
  • 2013: The 7 1/2 lives of Walter Moers - from the little asshole to Captain Bluebear to Zamonia. Exhibition in the Deutschordensmuseum Schloss Mergentheim and the cultural forum of the city of Bad Mergentheim .

Secondary literature

  • Remigius Bunia : »The book as a global thing (with Rainald Goetz and Walter Moers). Globalization as the end of the anti-thing fundamentalism of Western culture «. In: Wilhelm Amann, Georg Mein and Rolf Parr (eds.): Globalization and contemporary literature. Constellations - Concepts - Perspectives . Heidelberg: Synchron 2010. pp. 303-320.
  • Gerrit Lembke (Ed.): Walter Moers' Zamonien-Romane: Surveying a fictional continent. V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-906-2 .
  • Katja Pawlik: From Atlantis to Zamonia, from Menippos to Moers: Walter Moers' Zamonia novels in the context of Menippi satire . Dissertation. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8260-5899-8 .
  • Mareike Wegner: “Knowledge is night!” Parodic procedures in Walter Moers' Zamonien novels and in Wilde Reise durch die Nacht. Dissertation. Aisthesis, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8498-1137-2 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Walter Moers  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In search of the phantom: Walter Moers , report in the NDR ( online at youtube).
  2. ^ Walter Moers: Walter Moers - The all-rounder in the literature business
  3. ↑ Hitler as a comic figure with a gherkin nose - rhein-zeitung.de
  4. ↑ Zamonia - Author - Walter Moers
  5. ^ Walter Moers on the website of the Goethe Institute Madrid
  6. ↑ Press release on The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books on randomhouse.de
  7. ↑ zamonien.de: From the laboratory
  8. ↑ What Walter Moers hides in his poison cupboard Interview with Walter Moers from October 20, 2011 in the world
  9. ↑ Walter Moers. Retrieved March 20, 2017 .
  10. ^ Walter Moers: Announcement about the publication of the book "Der Bücherdrache" on Walter Moers' Facebook page. In: Facebook. March 25, 2019, accessed April 27, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Walter Moers climbs to first place. In: www.buchreport.de. April 2, 2019, accessed April 27, 2019 .
  12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3JwEVYcGBk
  13. ↑ Walter Moers, David Groenewold: Adolf - He's back! . GMC GmbH. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  14. ^ Peter D. Wagner on the exhibition in Bad Mergentheim. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Moers, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German comic artist and children's book author
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Mönchengladbach