Karl Mickel (12 August 1935 – 20 June 2000) was a German writer.

Life

Mickel was born in Dresden into a working-class family. There, he attended primary school from 1941 to 1949 and experienced together with his mother the

bombing of Dresden The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Ro ...

in February 1945. The pictures of the following days never left him. From 1949 to 1953, he also attended secondary school in Dresden. He finished with the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

and was admitted to study in Berlin. From 1953 to 1958, Mickel studied economic planning and economic history with Hans Mottek and

Jürgen Kuczynski Jürgen Kuczynski (; 17 September 1904 – 6 August 1997) was a German economist, journalist, and communist. He also provided intelligence to the Soviet Union during World War II. By 1936, Kuczynski had followed his father and other family into ...

at the . In 1958, he was an employee of the magazine ''Die Wirtschaft'', and from 1959 to 1963 editor of the magazine ''Junge Kunst''. Afterwards, he was a scientific assistant at the Hochschule für Ökonomie in Berlin and a member of the management of the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...

, where he worked together with

Ruth Berghaus Ruth Berghaus (2 July 1927 – 25 January 1996) was a German choreographer, opera and theatre director, and artistic director. Life and career Berghaus was born in Dresden and studied Expressionist dance and Dance direction with Gret Palucca th ...

, lastly professor at the

Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts The Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts (German: ''Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch'', ''HFS''), located in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, was founded in 1951 as the National Theatre School in Berlin with the status of colleg ...

in Berlin. Mickel was assigned to the . Mickel had two children with his wife, furthermore, his relationship with the poet

Sarah Kirsch Sarah Kirsch (; 16 April 1935 – 5 May 2013) was a German poet. Biography Sarah Kirsch was originally born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony but had changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's ...

gave a son. Mickel worked from 1959 to 1964 as IM "Michael" and from 1987 to 1989 as

IMS Ims is a Norwegian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Gry Tofte Ims (born 1986), Norwegian footballer * Rolf Anker Ims (born 1958), Norwegian ecologist See also * IMS (disambiguation) Ims is a Norwegian surname Heritable famil ...

"Bert" for the East German

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

. Mickel died in Berlin at the age of 64.

Work

Poetry and prose *''Lobverse und Beschimpfungen''. Poetry. 1963 *''Vita nova mea''. 1966 *''Eisenzeit''. Poetry. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1975 *''Eisenzeit''. Poetry. 1981. *''Odysseus in Ithaka''. Poetry *''Palimpsest''. Gedichte und Kommentare 1975–1989. Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1990. *''Lachmunds Freunde''. Novel **Erstes Buch. Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1991. **Erstes (vom Autor revidierte Fassung) und Zweites Buch (unvollendet). Wallstein 2006 * ''Die Jahre''. *''Aus der Anderwelt''. Erzählungen. Verlag Ulrich Keicher, 1998. *''Gelehrtenrepublik''. Aufsätze und Studien von Klopstock bis Papenfuß. Mitteldeutscher Verlag 2000. *''Der Besuch''. Lyrik und Texte aus dem Nachlaß. Verlag UN ART IG 2003. *''Geisterstunde''. poetry, private impression, 1999. New edition: Wallstein Verlag, 2004. Plays and libretti *''Die Einverstandenen''. Revue. Music

Günter Kochan Günter Kochan (2 October 1930 – 22 February 2009) was a German composer. He studied with Boris Blacher and was a master student for composition with Hanns Eisler. From 1967 until his retirement in 1991, he worked as professor for musical com ...

. UA 1958 *''Requiem für

Patrice Lumumba Patrice Émery Lumumba ( ; born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa; 2 July 192517 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic o ...

''. Cantata. Music:

Paul Dessau Paul Dessau (19 December 189428 June 1979) was a German composer and conductor. He collaborated with Bertolt Brecht and composed incidental music for his plays, and several operas based on them. Biography Dessau was born in Hamburg into a m ...

. UA 1964 *''Nausikaa''. Drama. Premiere 1968 *''Einstein''. Opera, music

. Premiere 1974Karl Mickel's Einstein
/ref> *''Celestina''. Tragicomedy after

Fernando de Rojas Fernando de Rojas (c. 1465/73, in La Puebla de Montalbán, Toledo, Spain – April 1541, in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Spain) was a Spanish author and dramatist, known for his only surviving work, '' La Celestina'' (originally titled ''Trag ...

. Premiere 1975

*'' Bettina''. Opera, Music (1982):

Friedrich Schenker Friedrich Schenker (23 December 19428 February 2013) was a German avant-garde composer and trombone player. Life Born in the German town of Zeulenroda, Schenker learned trombone and piano as a child and made his first compositional attempts at ...

. Premiere 1987 Berlin (with

Annette Jahns Annette Jahns (24 June 195811 September 2020) was a German operatic mezzo-soprano and contralto, and opera director, based at the Semperoper in Dresden. She appeared at international opera houses and festivals, with a focus on contemporary music ...

) *''Gefährliche Liebschaften oder Der kalte Krieg''. Opera seria. Musik (1993): Friedrich Schenker. Premiere 1997 Ulm *''Volks Entscheid''. Pieces. 1987 *''Halsgericht''. Comedy after

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

). Mitteldeutscher Verlag 1994. *''Kants Affe. Ein Todtengespräch –

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

/ de Sade''. Mit Grafiken von

Nuria Quevedo Nuria Quevedo Teixidó (born 18 March 1938) is a Spanish painter and graphic artist, affiliated with the Communist Party, who has lived in Berlin since age 15. Biography Nuria Quevedo's father, José Quevedo Fernández, was an aviator of the Sp ...

. Edition Balance, 1994 *''Goldberg-Passion''. Music (1998/99): Friedrich Schenker. Premiere 9 November 1999 in Leipzig Editor * ''In diesem besseren Land'' (with Adolf Endler). Halle 1966 * (with Christoph Buchwald). Darmstadt 1990 Audiobook * in ''Dichtung des 20. Jahrhunderts: Meine 24 sächsischen Dichter'', edited by

Gerhard Pötzsch Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–19 ...

, 2 CDs, Militzke Verlag Leipzig 2009,

Honours

* 1978:

Heinrich-Mann-Preis 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 Ma ...

* 1997: des Landes

Sachsen-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the 8th-largest state in Germany by area an ...

* 1998:

Christian-Wagner-Preis Christian-Wagner-Preis is a literary prize of Germany. Since 1992, the Christian Wagner Society has been awarding the Christian Wagner Prize to a contemporary poet every two years "in memory of the poet and his program of protecting all living t ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mickel, Karl 20th-century German writers German librettists Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin 1935 births 2000 deaths Writers from Dresden

Life

Work

Honours

References

Further reading

External links