Michael Rutschky (25 May 1943 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

– 18 March 2018 in Berlin) was a German

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Life

Michael Rutschky grew up in

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint of ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. From 1963 to 1971, he studied

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

(under

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt S ...

and others),

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. From 1969 to 1978, he worked as a social researcher at Freie Universität Berlin, where he earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. From 1979 to 1984, he lived in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where he was an editor of ''

Merkur Merkur (, '' Mercury'') is a North American brand of automobiles marketed by the Lincoln- Mercury division of Ford Motor Company for model years 1985–1989. Drawing its name from the German word for Mercury, Merkur, the brand targeted buyers ...

'' and '' TransAtlantik''. In 1985 he moved back to Berlin. From 1985 to 1997, he was

contributing editor A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership dra ...

to the periodical '' Der Alltag''. Michael Rutschky wrote

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

s with an original mixture of

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...

passages and sociological interpretation of the everyday, often to comical effect. Michael Rutschky was a member of the German PEN center. He received the 1997

Heinrich Mann Prize The Heinrich Mann Prize () is an essay prize that has been awarded since 1953, first by the East German Academy of Arts, then by the Academy of Arts, Berlin. The prize, which comes with a €10,000 purse, is given annually on 27 March, Heinrich ...

; in 1999 he held was the visiting poetics lecturer at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. He was a visiting scholar at the Villa Concordia in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

. He was married to the educationalist and publisher Katharina Rutschky until her death in January 2010.

Works

*''Schüler im Literaturunterricht'' ("Students in literature class"), Cologne 1975 (together with Hartmut Eggert and Hans Christoph Berg) *''Studien zur psychoanalytischen Interpretation von Literatur'' ("Studies in the psychoanalytical interpretation of literature"), Berlin 1978 *''Erfahrungshunger'' ("Hunger for experience"), Cologne 1980 *''Lektüre der Seele'' ("Reading the soul"), Frankfurt am Main 1981 *''Wartezeit'' ("Waiting"), Cologne 1983 *''Zur Ethnographie des Inlands'' ("On domestic ethnography"), Frankfurt am Main 1984 *''Auf Reisen'' ("Traveling"), Frankfurt am Main 1986 *''Was man zum Leben wissen muss'' ("What to know about life"), Zurich 1987 *''Thomas – mach ein Bild von uns!'' ("Thomas: take a picture of us!"), Munich 1988 (with Thomas Karsten and Peter Brasch) *''Reise durch das Ungeschick und andere Meisterstücke'' ("Voyage through awkwardness and other masterpieces"), Zurich 1990 *''Mit Dr. Siebert in Amerika'' ("With Dr. Siebert in America"), Zurich 1991 *''Traumnachrichten'' ("Dream messages"), Hersbruck 1991 *''Unterwegs im Beitrittsgebiet'' ("Travels in the new German states"), Göttingen 1994 *''Die Meinungsfreude'' ("The joy of opinion"), Göttingen 1997 *''Der verborgene Brecht'' ("The hidden Brecht"), Zurich 1997 (with Juergen Teller) *''Lebensromane'' (Life novels), Göttingen 1998 *''Berlin'', Berlin 2001 *''Wie wir Amerikaner wurden'' (How we became Americans), Munich 2004

Publisher

*''Errungenschaften'' (Achievements), Frankfurt am Main 1982 *''Ein Jahresbericht'' (The Yearly Report), Frankfurt am Main 1983 *''Tag für Tag'' (Day for Day), Frankfurt am Main 1984 *''Die andere Chronik'' (The Other Chronicle) 1987, Cologne 1987

References

External links

Literature by and on Michael Rutschky
in the Catalog of the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

Short Biography
from the Pages of

taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

Biography with a Photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutschky, Michael 1943 births 2018 deaths Writers from Berlin Heinrich Mann Prize winners German male writers