Herbert Rosendorfer

Background

Herbert Rosendorfer was born on February 19, 1934 in the village of Gries (currently in the province of Bolzano) in the South Tyrol.

Education

After graduating from the school, Rosendorfer spent a year strudying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and then was accepted into the Law Faculty at the University of Munich.

Career

At age nineteen in 1953, Rosendorfer wrote his first story “Die Glasglocke”. Through the decades following publication of his first short story in 1966, he has produced a large body of novels and shortstory collections, combining fantastic premises and exaggerated characters with elements of reality.

From 1967 to 1993, H.Rosendorfer worked as Higher Regional Court judge in Naumburg, and since 1990 he worked as an honarary professor of Munich literature history at the University of Munich.

As for writing, his works include some novels, TV scripts, historical research, plays, short stories and guides on music, which often belong to fantasy. But some of his works have bright notes of social satire, imaginative storytelling, wit, black humour and grotesque in realism and history.

After 1970, he published such works as his short fiction collection "Der stillgelegte Mensch", novel "Der Ruinenbaumeister", novel "Grosses Solo für Anton". Having grown up during the rise of the Third Reich, Rosendorfer claimed it was better to write and talk about the Nazis after World War II and he published novel "Deutsche Suite" (the English translation published as "German Suite" in 1981), satirizes Hitler’s rise to power beginning in 1931. And then he scorns the Nazi regime in his 1989 novel "Die Nacht der Amazonen" (the English translation published as "The Night of the Amazons" in 1992). Rosendorfer continued his critical social commentary in his surreal 1992 novel "Die goldenen Heiligen, oder, Columbus entdeckt Europa" and thought-provoking novel “Die Goldenen Heiligen".

After retiring in 1997, he moved to South Tyrol.

The English translation published in 1998 "Letters back from Ancient China" and its 1997 German sequel "The big turn. New letters to the Chinese past" (Die große Umwendung. Neue Briefe in die chinesische Vergangenheit). Rosendorfer examines modern society through the eyes of a time-traveler. Critics commented on Rosendorfer’s ability to poke fun at society while delivering a serious message.

Also, he was a composer and painter, what possessed him to create a few opera librettos.

Achievements

• Thomas H.Falk hailed Rosendorfer as a “masterful storyteller. The hallmark of Rosendorfer’s writing is the well-told tale, with variation and continuity the guiding principle, discovering the illusory in reality and, likewise, find reality in the fantastic.” Rosendorfer was heralded by a Times Literary Supplement reviewer as “a very readable writer who narrates his stories in a sophisticated, witty and relaxed manner. He has spun an irrational world that hovers between the horrors and nightmares of science fiction." A Times Literary Supplement contributor praised the novel "Der Ruinenbaumeister" for its imaginative detail, dreamlike fantasy, and creation of a satirical world in microcosm: “here is an author not only fulfilling the promise that critics had first perceived in his short stories, but also developing further an already powerful talent.” "Armed with a wicked sense of humor that often verges on the scurrilous, Rosendorfer creates a motley world of grotesque and weird characters," claimed a Times Literary Supplement writer. "He has great fun with just about every dimension of the production and promotionof literature today—as well as with an exemplary assortment of its irredeemably depraved prima donnas," reviewer Ulf Zimerman discribed H.Rosendorfer in World Literature Today. In World Literature Today Falk commented on Rosendorfer’s ability to poke fun at society while delivering a serious message in "Die grosse Umwendung". Some of his works have been translated into French, English, Russian, and Czech.
  
  Rosendorfer received the 1977 Toucan Prize, the 1991 Ernst Hoferichter Award, the 1992 Upper Bavarian Cultural Prize, the 1999 Jean-Paul Prize, and the 2010 Corine Literature Prize for his lifetime achievements. He was honoured with the Order of Merit, first class (1996), the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, first class and the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2004.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Night of the Amazons

    (This novel, based on the life of Christian Weber, a frien...)

    1989
  • LETTERS BACK TO ANCIENT CHINA

    (The 10th century Chinese Mandarin Kao-tai builds a time m...)

    1998
  • Messages from the poetic chaos: Roman stories

    (Rosendorfer, best acquainted with the spirit and spirits ...)

    1991
  • Suburban

    (Ingenious scenes about the pitfalls of everyday life, won...)

    1982
  • The Golden Saints or Columbus discovers Europe: Roman (German Edition)

    (Herbert Rosendorfer starts a journey through time, this t...)

    1992
  • Letters into the Chinese past

    (The Mandarin Kao-tai travels to Munich from the 10th cent...)

    1983
  • The Architect of Ruins (Dedalus Europe 2011)

    (The Architect of Ruins is considered one of the masterpie...)

    1969
  • Rome: An Invitation

    (There are many amusing intensive courses and a walk throu...)

    1990
  • The Prince of Homburg: Or, The Landgrave with the Silver Leg: Biogr

    (Slight shelf wear. Small tears, and some creasing to DJ. ...)

    1978
  • Steinbichler Stories: A Screenplay

    (TV Game Library)

    1983
  • Eichkatzelried: stories from childhood u. Jugend

    (Unusual book)

    1979
  • Cartas a la antigua China / Letters to ancient China (Spanish Edition)

    (Rare Book)

    2004
  • The Dwarf Castle and Seven Other Payments

    (Rare Book)

    1982
  • The Director's Dream: Thoughts on Music

    (Rare Book)

    1984
  • The Woman of His Life and Other Stories

    (Rare book)

    1985
  • Das Messingherz, or, The Short Legs of Truth (Collected Works in Single Editions / Herbert Rosendorfer) 1988
  • German history 3. From the dawn of modern times to the peasant wars 2002
  • The disused Man 1970
  • About Kissing the Earth 1971
  • Skaumo / picaresque song: Two stories 1989
  • The Prince of Homburg: Biography 1978
  • Ball at Thod. Stories 1980
  • Bayreuth for beginners 1976
  • Don Ottavio recalls: Conversations About the Right Music 1989
  • Stephanie and the Previous Life 1977
  • Ball bei Thod 1980
  • The Brass Heart: Roman 1979
  • Ballmanns Leiden or textbook for bankruptcy law 1981
  • Four Seasons in Yrwental: Four Reports 1986

Membership

H.Rosendorfer was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz.

Connections

coworker:

Konstantin Wecker

Common work on "Casting shadows: Twelve moral considerations"

coauthor:

Gert Heidenreich

Common work on books "From the dawn of modern times: German history"

coauthor:

Michael Prechtl

Common work on "Eichkatzelried: Stories from Childhood and Youth"

coauthor:

Ian Mitchell

Common work on "Night of the Amazons" as translator

coworker:

, Langen Müller Herbig

Common work on "From the dawn of modern times: German history", "Suburban" and "The waitress Anni" as publisher

coworker:

Wolf Euba

Common work on "Suburban" as narrator

coworker:

Veronika von Quast

Common work on "Suburban"

coauthor:

Luis Murschetz

Common work on "O sole mio. Or why the three tenors are still singin"

coworker:

Fabius von Gugel

Common work on "The appearance in the white hotel: eerie stories to eerie images" as illustrator

coworker:

Lisa Kreuzer

Common work on "The waitress Anni"

References

• A LETTER TO SILENCE: For Herbert Rosendorfer (German Edition)
• The grotesque in the narrative work of Herbert Rosendorfer: His relationship with utopia, teleology, eschatology (Europäische Hochschulschriften ... European University Students) (French Edition)
  1989
• My Wonderful Bookstore
• Robinson characters in the novels "Great solo for Anton" by Herbert Rosendorfer and in "The work of the night" by Thomas Glavinic