Klaus Modick (born 3 May 1951) is a German author and literary translator. Klaus-modick-2011-ffm-014

Education and early career

Klaus Modick was born in Oldenburg and completed his secondary education at the Altes Gymnasium there in 1971. He then attended

Hamburg University The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen''), the Hamburg Colon ...

, where he read German, History and Educational Theory, completing his teaching qualification in 1977. Modick then took a doctorate in 1980, with a thesis on the German-Jewish novelist and playwright

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...

. Modick spent five years as an advertising copywriter and worked as a part-time lecturer in German literature in the higher education sector before becoming a freelance writer and translator in 1984. In 1984 he married an American citizen he met during one of his frequent visits to Crete and they have two daughters. Modick has said that he feels a special affinity with Crete and its people and in 2003 he published the novel ''Der kretische Gast,'' set in 1943 during the German occupation of Crete''.''

Established writer

From 1986 to 1992 Modick wrote a monthly column on paperbacks for

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

and from 1997 to 2002 for

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

. He has held a number of guest lectureships in Germany, the US and Japan ( see below). He is a member of

PEN Centre Germany PEN Centre Germany is part of the worldwide association of writers founded in London in 1921, now known as PEN International. One of over 140 autonomous PEN centres around the world, PEN Centre Germany is based in Darmstadt, Hesse. Work PEN Ce ...

and has received numerous

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

. Modick returned to live in Oldenburg in 2000 after spending several years abroad, including a year in Rome and another in Paris and 'three to four years' in the USA. From 2000 to 2003 he was a member of the literary commission of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and the Arts, having previously received a number of awards from this body. Modick is also an essayist and literary critic and has published several volumes of non-fiction writings including ''Das Stellen der Schrift'', ''Milder Rausch'' and ''Ein Bild und tausend Worte''.

United States themes

Many of Modick's novels are concerned with German–American themes, for example, ''Die Schatten der Ideen,'' which tells the story of a German historian who emigrates to the US in 1935 and later finds himself swept up in the witch-hunts of the

McCarthy Era McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United S ...

. Other exile-themed novels include ''Sunset'', which tells of the friendship between

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and

whilst in Los Angeles in the early 1940s. ''Sunset'' was nominated in 2011 for the German Book Prize and the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize.

Work as a translator

As a literary translator Modick has translated numerous English-language works into German including works by

Aravind Adiga Aravind Adiga (born 23 October 1974) is an Indian writer and journalist. His debut novel, '' The White Tiger'', won the 2008 Man Booker Prize. Early life and education Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai), the capital of Tamil Nadu, o ...

Sebastian Faulks Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – '' The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', ''Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pu ...

, William Gaddis,

William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. Among other accolades, Goldman won two Aca ...

Sudhir Kakar Sudhir Kakar (25 July 1938 – 22 April 2024) was an Indian psychoanalyst, novelist and author in the fields of cultural psychology and the psychology of religion. Biography Kakar was born on 25 July 1938 in Nainital, a town in present-day U ...

Victor LaValle Victor LaValle (born February 3, 1972) is an American author. He is the author of a short-story collection, ''Slapboxing with Jesus'', and five novels, ''The Ecstatic,'' ''Big Machine,'' ''The Devil in Silver,'' '' The Changeling'', and ''Lone Wo ...

Andrew Motion Sir Andrew Peter Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and a ...

Jeffrey Moore Jeffrey Moore is a Canadian writer, translator and educator currently living in Val-Morin in the Quebec Laurentians. Moore was born in Montreal, and educated at the University of Toronto, BA, the University of Paris (post-1970), Sorbonne and the ...

John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was an American writer. He was one of America's most prolific writers of Short story, short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'H ...

, Robert Olmstead, Matt Beynon Rees, Charles Simmons,

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

and

Nathanael West Nathanael West (born Nathan Weinstein; October 17, 1903 – December 22, 1940) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is remembered for two darkly satirical novels: '' Miss Lonelyhearts'' (1933) and '' The Day of the Locust'' (1939), set ...

. Despite his high reputation in the German-speaking world and prolific output, Modick was not translated into English until 2020, when his novella ''Moos'', translated by David Herman, was published under the title ''

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

'' by Bellevue Literary Press, New York, NY. A number of his works have English titles, reflecting the time Modick spent in the US.

Bestseller

Modick's 2015 novel ''Konzert ohne Dichter'', which tells of the difficult relationship between artist

Heinrich Vogeler Johann Heinrich Vogeler (December 12, 1872 – June 14, 1942) was a German people, German painter, designer, and architect, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Early life He was born in Bremen, and studied at the Kunstakadem ...

and poet

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

in 1905, became an almost immediate bestseller on publication. Modick has enjoyed great critical acclaim in the German-speaking world.

Selected works

* ''Moos'' (novella). Haffmans, Zürich 1984 * ''Moss'' (A novel). Translated by David Herman. Bellevue Literaray Press. New York. NY 2020 * ''Ins Blaue'' (novel). Machwerk, Siegen 1985 * ''Das Grau der Karolinen'' (novel). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1986 * ''Weg war weg: Romanverschnitt'' (novel). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1988, * ''Das Stellen der Schrift'' (essays). Affholderbach & Strohmann, Siegen 1988 * ''Die Schrift vom Speicher'' (novel). Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1991 * ''Der Schatten, den die Hand wirft'' (sonnets). Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1991 * ''Das Licht in den Steinen'' (novel). Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1992 * ''Der Flügel'' (novel). Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1994, * ''Das Kliff'' (novel). Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1995 * ''Der Mann im Mast'' (novel). Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1997, * ''Erste Lieben & andere Peinlichkeiten: Oldenburger Geschichten'' (short stories). Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 1997, * ''Milder Rausch'' (essays and portraits). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1999 * ''Vierundzwanzig Türen'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2000 * ''September Song'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2002 * ''Der kretische Gast'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2003, * ''Vatertagebuch'', Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2005, * ''Bestseller'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2006, * ''Die Schatten der Ideen'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2008, * ''Krumme Touren'' (short stories). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2010 * ''Sunset'' (novel). Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2011, * ''Klack'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2013, * ''Konzert ohne Dichter'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2015, * ''Ein Bild und tausend Worte. Die Entstehungsgeschichte von "Konzert ohne Dichter" und andere Essays'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2016, * ''Keyserlings Geheimnis'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2018, * ''Leonard Cohen'' (novella). KIWI Musikbibliothek Band 5. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2020. ISBN 978-3-462-05380-7. * ''Fahrtwind'' (novel). Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2021. ISBN 978-3-462-00130-3. * ''Nachlese. Hundert Bücher – Ein Jahrhundert''. (literary criticism) Onomato. . Düsseldorf 2024. ISBN 978-3-949899-22-5.

Awards

Source: * 1986 Hamburger Literaturförderpreis * 1989 Art Prize (Literature) Lower Saxony * 1990/91 Stipendium of the Villa Massimo, Rom * 1993/94 Stipendium of the

Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...

, Paris * 1994 Bettina-von-Arnim-Preis * 1996 Writer in Residence, University of Poitiers * 1998 Annual Stipendium in Literature, Lower Saxony * 2000 Märkischer Autorenpreis * 2005 Nicolas Born Prize * 2006 Elba-Stipendium Thyll-Dürr-Stiftung * 2007/08 Stipendium Deutscher Literaturfonds * 2009 Stipendium Villa Aurora / Los Angeles * 2012 Writer in residence, Heinrich-Böll-Cottage,

Achill Island Achill Island (; ) is an island off the west coast of Ireland in the historical barony of Burrishoole, County Mayo. It is the largest of the Irish isles and has an area of approximately . Achill had a population of 2,345 in the 2022 census. ...

, Ireland * 2013 Stipendium Deutscher Literaturfonds * 2015

Rheingau Literatur Preis Rheingau Literatur Preis is a literary prize of Hesse. It is awarded annually since 1994 by the which follows the Rheingau Musik Festival. An author is awarded whose prose gained the attention of the literary critics ("") The prize of 11,111 Eu ...

for ''Konzert ohne Dichter'' * 2015 Poet in residence, University of Duisburg-Essen * 2020 Hannelore Greve Literature Prize

Guest lectureships

Source: * 1992 Writer in Residence, Keio-University, Tokyo * 1994 to 2005 Guest professor, Middlebury College, Vermont/US * 1995 Guest professor, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire/US * 1996 to 2002 Lecturer in Poetry, Creative Writing, University of Bielefeld * 1996 Writer in Residence, Allegheny College, Pennsylvania/US * 1998 to 1999 Guest professor, German Literature Institute Leipzig

Works about Modick (in German)

* David-Christopher Assmann & Eva Geulen: ''Zur gesellschaftlichen Lage der Literatur (mit einer Fallstudie zu Klaus Modick)'', in: WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 9 (2012), Vol. 2, pp. 18–46. * Dirk Frank: ''Narrative Gedankenspiele. Der metafiktionale Roman zwischen Modernismus und Postmodernismus''. Wiesbaden 2001. * Sabine Jambon: ''Moos, Störfall und abruptes Ende'', Düsseldorf 1999 * ''Von Lust und Last literarischen Schreibens. Ein Blick in die Werkstatt deutscher Scriftsteller''. Klaus Modick and Helmut Mörchen, Eichborn 2001 * Helmut Mörchen: ''Klaus Modick – ein Gegenwartsautor, den man kennen sollte''. Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Volume 5/2011. * Josua Novak: ''Der postmoderne komische Roman''. Marburg 2009. * Harry Nutt: ''Tiefbohrungen ins Blaue. Über den Schriftsteller Klaus Modick''. Merkur 11/1988. * Janina Richts: ''Inszenierungen von Autor-Kritiker-Verhältnissen in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur''. München 2009. * Ralf Schnell: ''Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Literatur seit 1945''. Stuttgart 2005. * Bernd Stenzig: ''Rilke und Vogeler: Irreführungen in Klaus Modicks "Konzert ohne Dichter"''. Karl-Robert Schütze, Berlin 2015, * Hubert Winkels: ''Postmoderne leicht gemacht – Klaus Modick und die Rückkehr der Familie''. In: Hubert Winkels: ''Kann man Bücher lieben?'' Köln 2010. * Dieter Wrobel: ''Postmodernes Chaos – Chaotische Postmoderne. Eine Studie zu Analogien zwischen Chaostheorie und deutschsprachiger Prosa der Postmoderne''. Bielefeld 1998.

References

External links

An interview in German with Modick about his life & work:

A brief biography:

* ttp://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/von-roman-zu-roman.1153.de.html?dram:article_id=182464 A transcribed interview in German with Klaus Modick, dated 03/05/2011: {{DEFAULTSORT:Modick, Klaus 1951 births Living people People from Oldenburg (city) German-language writers German translators University of Hamburg alumni