Botho Strauß

Botho Strauss (born December 2 1944 in Naumburg) is a German playwright, novelist and essayist. His father wa a chemist. After finishing his secondary education, he studied German, History of the Theatre and Sociology in Koeln and Muenchen, but never finished his dissertation on "Thomas Mann und das Theater". During his studies he worked as extra at the Muenchner Kammerspiele. From 1967 to 1970, he worked as critic and editorial journalist for the journal "Theater heute". From 1970 to 1975 he worked as dramaturgical assistant of Peter Stein at the West Berlin "Schaubuehne am Halleschen Ufer". After his first attempt as writer -in e.g. an adaption of Gorki for the screen- he decided to live as a writer. He had his first breakthrough as a dramatist in 1977 with "Trilogie des Wiedersehens", five years after the publication of his first work.In 1984 he published his important ouevre, Der Junge Mann (The young man, translated by Roslyn Theobald in 1995).In 1993 (in,Der Spiegel 6,1993) his cultural essay "Anschwellender Bocksgesang" (Swelling Goat Song) a criticcal examination of the modern civilisation, he triggered a major political controversity in Germany.In his theoretical work, B.S.showed the influence of the ancient classics, Nietzsche, Heidegger as well as Adorno, but his outlook was also radically anti-bourgois. He soon began to support a pure aesthetics as an opposition of politics.His work as a writer has beeen recognised with numerous internatinal prizes and his dramas are among the most performed in Germanlanguage theatres.B.S. presently lives in Berlin and in Templin (Uckermark).

Works (German)

*"Die Ähnlichen : moral Interludes ; Der Kuss des Vergessens : Vivarium rot : zwei Theaterstücke" (1998) ISBN 3446192921
*"Angelas Kleider : Nachtstück in zwei Teilen" (1991) ISBN 3446164340
*"Beginnlosigkeit : Reflexionen über Fleck und Linie" (1992) ISBN 3446171126
*"Besucher : drei Stücke" (1988) ISBN 3446152571
*"Diese Erinnerung an einen, der nur einen Tag zu Gast war : Gedicht" (1985) ISBN 3446143963
*"Die eine und die andere : Stück in zwei Akten" (2005) ISBN 3446206205 (pbk.)
*"Die Fehler des Kopisten" (1997) ISBN 3446190295
*"Fragmente der Undeutlichkeit" (1989) ISBN 3446157360
*"Die Fremdenführerin : Stück in zwei Akten" (1986) ISBN 3446144978 (pbk.)
*"Der Gebärdensammler : Texte zum Theater" edited by Thomas Oberender (1999) ISBN 3886612171
*"Gedankenfluchten" (1999) ISBN 3518223267
*"Das Gleichgewicht : Stück in drei Akten" (1993) ISBN 3446174982
*"Gross und klein : Szenen" (1978) ISBN 3466125981
*"Die Hypochonder ; Bekannte Gesichter, gemischte Gefühle. 2 Theaterstücke" (1979) ISBN 3446128174
*"Ithaka : Schauspiel nach den Heimkehr-Gesängen der Odyssee" (1996) ISBN 3446185771
*"Jeffers-Akt : I und II" (1998) ISBN 3446195289
*"Der junge Mann" (1984) ISBN 3446141340
*"Kalldewey, Farce" (1981) ISBN 3446134778
*"Kongress : die Kette der Demütigungen" (1989)
*"Botho Strauß/Neo Rauch,Der Mittler,Münster 2006, ISBN 3-930754-44-4
*"Mikado (2006) ISBN 3-446-20808-9

*"Marlenes Schwester : 2 Erzählungen" (1975) ISBN 3446120114
*"Die Nacht mit Alice, als Julia ums Haus schlich" (2003) ISBN 3446203575
*"Der Narr und seine Frau heute abend in Pancomedia" (2001) ISBN 3446200878
*"Niemand anderes" 2nd ed. (1987) ISBN 3446148906
*"Paare, Passanten" 2nd ed. (1981) ISBN 3446134506
*"Der Park : Schauspiel" (1983) ISBN 3446137726 loosely based on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
*"Das Partikular" (2000) ISBN 3446198865
*"Rumor" (1980) ISBN 3446129901
*"Schändung : nach dem "Titus Andronicus" von Shakespeare" (2005) ISBN 3446206264 (pbk.)
*"Schlusschor : drei Akte" (1991) ISBN 3446162186
*"Schützenehre : Erzählung" (1975) ISBN 3873650711
*"Trilogie des Wiedersehens : Theaterstück" (1976) ISBN 3446122699
*"Tumult" translated by Michael Hulse (1984) ISBN 0856354724
*"Unerwartete Rückkehr" (2002) ISBN 3446202544
*"Der Untenstehende auf Zehenspitzen" (2004) ISBN 3446204911
*"Versuch, ästhetische und politische Ereignisse zusammenzudenken : Texte über Theater, 1967-1986" (1987) ISBN 3886610802
*"Die Widmung : eine Erzählung" (1977) ISBN 3446124152
*"Wohnen, dämmern, lügen" (1994) ISBN 3446178759

English translations

*"DramaContemporary. Germany : plays" / by Botho Strauss ... [et al.] ; edited by Carl Weber. (1996) ISBN 080185279X (alk. paper) 0801852803 (pbk. : alk. paper)
*"Big and little : scenes" translated by Anne Cattaneo (1979) ISBN 0374112541
*"Couples, passersby" translated by Roslyn Theobald (1996) ISBN 0810112426 (alk. paper)
*"Devotion" translated by Sophie Wilkins (1995) ISBN 0810113422 (pbk. : alk. paper)
*"Living, glimmering, lying" translated by Roslyn Theobald (1999) ISBN 0810112833 (alk. paper)
*"The park" translated by Tinch Minter and Anthony Vivis, Sheffield Academic Press (1988) ISBN 1850751889
*"The young man" translated by Roslyn Theobald (1995) ISBN 0810113384 (alk. paper)

Prizes and Awards

*1987 Jean Paul Prize
*1989 Georg Buechner Prize
*1993 Berlin Theatre Prize
*2007 Schiller Prize

External links

* [http://www.goethe.de/kue/the/nds/nds/aut/str/enindex.htm Botho Strauß: New German dramatic art.] Goethe-Instituts Website
* http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E1DC1630F93AA15751C1A960958260 (NY Times on "Couples, Passersby")