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who was the greatest native german language fiction author of all time?
why?
3 Answers
- SterzLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
Literatur is not a competitive sport, and so I have some problems with your question: Let me explain with English language examples: It might be possible (if rather useless) to compare Shakespeare with other playwrights and/or lyrical poets, but under what terms of reference could a novelist such as James Joyce possibly be compared to Shakespeare? And would you exclude Joseph Conrad, because his native language was not English? Elias Canetti, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his works written in German, learnt that language only as his third or fourth language!
Your curiosity about German literature does deserve an answer, though, I think:
I would not be able to name "the greatest native German language fiction author of all time", but I would include the following in the top 10 (in no particular order):
Walther von der Vogelweide, for the deeply human and strikingly personal voice he represents, sounding across 8 centuries until today.
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, for the eternally valid characters of his Simplicius Simplicissimus and Courasche, people suffering under and trying to survive by their wits in the war of 30 years.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, for the sheer quantity and quality of his writings in all fields of his contemporary fiction.
Heinrich von Kleist, for a conciseness of prose that has no equivalent in German literature.
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, for embodying the dark romanticism of the Northern German marshes.
Franz Grillparzer, for writing some of the wittiest German poetry and most moving German novellas ever (even though he is guilty of writing the unfunniest play ever to carry the subtitle "a comedy": "Weh dem, der lügt")
Theodor Fontane, for being the mildly sarcastic commentator of Bismarck's Prussia.
Joseph Roth, for being the wildly sarcastic and horribly sad obituarist of the Austro-Hungarian decline.
Robert Musil, for being a 20th century Heinrich von Kleist, with added sense of humour.
Bertolt Brecht, for his poetry.
Christa Wolf, for being the equivalent of Theodor Fontane and Joseph Roth as a chronicler of the GDR.
11 already? Well, they all make my top 11, then!
- andyg77Lv 71 decade ago
Herman Hesse Not made up, real author kind of depressing and enlightening at the same time
Siddhartha
Beneath the Wheel
Peter Carmizind
There's probably better, he's the only one that came to mind
Source(s): Personal reading - Anonymous1 decade ago
Heinrich Von Strusseldorf, because I just made it up.