Kühn, Dieter 1935–

PERSONAL: Born February 1, 1935, in Cologne, Germany.

ADDRESSES: Office—c/o Duncker & Humbolt, Post-fach 410329, Berlin, Germany.

CAREER: Playwright, novelist, biographer, essayist, and children's writer.

MEMBER: PEN.

AWARDS, HONORS: Förderpreis, 1973; Georg Mackensen-Preis, and Hörspeilpreis, Kriegsblinden, both 1974, both for Goldberg-Variationen: Hörspieltexte mit Materialien; Herman Hesse prize, 1977, for Ich Wolkenstein: eine Biographie; Stadtschreiber von Bergen-Enkheim, 1980–81; Förderpreis, Lüneburger Autorenschmiede, 1982; Groβer Literaturpreis, Bayerischen Akademie der schönen Künste, 1989; Stiftungsgastdozentur, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, 1992–93; Stadtschreiber in Mainz, 1993.

WRITINGS:

Analogie und Variation: zur Analyse von Robert Musils Roman "Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften," Bouvier (Bonn, Germany), 1965.

N., Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1970.

Ausflüge im Fesselballon (novel), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1971.

Musik und Gessellschaft (essays), Tsamas (Hamburg, Germany), 1971.

Grenzen es Widerstandes (essays), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1972.

Siam-Siam: ein Abenteuerbuch, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1972.

Mit dem Zauberpferd nach London (children's novel), Luchterhand (Darmstadt, Germany), 1973.

Die Präsidentin, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1973.

Festspiel für Rothäute, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1974.

Unternehmen Rammbock: Planspielstudie z. Wirkung Gesellschaftskrit (criticism), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1974.

Johan Most: ein Sozialist in Deutschland, Hanser (Munich, Germany), 1974.

(With Ludwig Harig) Netzer Kam aus der Tiefe des Raumes: notwendige Beitrage zur Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft, Hanser (Munich, Germany), 1974.

Stanislaw der Schweiger (novel), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1975.

Luftkrieg als Abenteuer, Hanser (Munich, Germany), 1975.

(Translator) Eduard Pöppig, In der Nähe des ewigen Schnees, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1975.

Josephine: aus der öffentlichen Biografie der Josephine Baker (biography), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1976.

Achmeds Geheimsprache (children's book), 1976.

Goldberg-Variationen: Hörspieltexte mit Materialien, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1976.

Op der Parkbank (three radio plays; includes Op der Parkbank, Jesang op der Walz, and Stervenswötche, originally broadcast 1969–72), Greven (Cologne, Germany), 1976.

Ich Wolkenstein: eine Biographie, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1977.

Ludwigslust, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1977.

Die Geisterhand (children's book), Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1978.

Löwenmusik (essays), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1979.

Der Herr der fliegenden Fische, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1979.

Und der sultan von Oman, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1979.

Auf der Zeitachse: vier Konzepte, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1980.

Galaktisches Rauschen: Sechs Hörspiele, Fischer-Taschenbuch (Frankfurt, Germany), 1980.

Herr Neidhart (biography), Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1981.

Liederbuch für Neidhart (criticism), Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1981.

Schnee und Schwefel: Gedichte (poems), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1982.

Der wilde Gesang der Kaiserin Elisabeth, Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 1982.

Das Missverständnis: polemische Überlegungenzum politischen Standort Arno Schmidts, Edition Text + Kritik (Munich, Germany), 1982.

Die Kammer des schwarzen Lichts (novel), Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1984.

Der Himalaya im Wintergarten, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1984.

Erläuterungen zu Arno Schmidts "Alexander, oder, Was ist die Wahrheit," Edition Text + Kritik (Munich, Germany), 1984.

Der König von Grönland (novel; title means "The King of Greenland"), Janus Presse (Cologne, Germany), 1985.

Flaschenpost für Goethe, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1985.

Bettines letzte Liebschaften, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1986.

(Translator and contributor of introductory material) Wolfram von Eschenbach, Der Parzival de Wolfram von Eschenbach, edited by Eberhard Nellmann, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1986.

Kommentierendes Handbuch zu Arno Schmidts Roman "Aus dem leben eiens Fauns," Edition Text + Kritik (Munich, Germany), 1986.

Neidhart aus dem Reuental (biography), Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1988.

Auf der Zeitachse: Biographische Skizzen, Kritische Konzepte, Suhrkamp (Frankfurt, Germany), 1989.

Beethoven und der schwarze Geiger (novel), Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1990.

(Translator) Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan und Isolde, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1991, revised edition, Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 2003.

Die Minute eines Segelfalters: Erzählung, Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1992.

Das Heu, die Frau, das Messer (novella), Insel (Frankfurt, Germany), 1993.

Varnhagen und sein später Schmäher: über einige Vorurteile Arno Schmidts (biography), Aisthesis (Bielefeld, Germany), 1994.

(With Marcus Rosenstein) Rugby: Kampf in Gasse und Gedränge, Weinmann (Berlin, Germany), 1995.

Clara Schumann, Klavier: ein Lebensbuch (biography), Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 1996.

Goethe zieht in den Krieg: eine biographische Skizze, Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 1999.

Auf dem Weg zu Annemarie Böll (biography), Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Berlin, Germany), 2000.

Frau Merian!: eine Lebensgeschichte (biography), Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 2002.

Mit Flügelohren: mein Hörspielbuch, Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 2003.

Schillers Schreibtisch in Buchenwald: Bericht, Fischer (Frankfurt, Germany), 2005.

Contributor of commentary to Aus meinem Leben, by Bettina von Arnim, 1982; plays are included in Spectaculum: 27, Neun moderne Theaterstücke, 1977.

SIDELIGHTS: German writer Dieter Kühn, winner of several literary prizes, has distinguished himself in various literary forms, including radio plays, novels, biographies, essays, and children's books. He studied German and English literature, writing his Ph.D. thesis on Robert Musil's masterwork, The Man without Qualities. Kühn's prolific output began in 1970, when his first work, N., was published. This volume was followed by a steady stream of novels, essay collections, and other books—more than twenty titles before the end of the decade, followed by an only-slightly less-copious number through the 1980s and 1990s.

Art and culture are among Kühn's favored themes. He has written biographies of pianist Clara Schumann and American dancer Josephine Baker. In addition, he has published Beethoven und der schwarze Geiger, a novel about Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) that focuses on the German composer's relationship with the violinist Bridgetower, son of a Polish mother and an escaped slave from Barbados. Bridgetower was an historical figure; in fact, he is the dedicatee of Beethoven's "sonata mulattica," better known as the Kreutzer Sonata. In the novel, Kühn imagines the composer on a ship bound for Africa in 1813, along with Bridgetower; a masked traveler; Johanna; and the young Charlotte, with whom Beethoven falls in love and who is based on the historical figure of Josephine von Brunswick. In a World Literature Today review of the novel Beethoven und der schwarze Geiger, Ulf Zimmermann commented that an "excess of contemporary baggage" weakens the book, with the composer expressing enlightened twentieth-century views on race and gender relationships. However, the critic credited Kühn with "faithful" realism regarding Beethoven's difficult personality.

Another novel that attracted critical notice is Der König von Grönland, the story of a man who had served as a weather reporter on a ship from Greenland during World War II and, fifty years later, plans a work of "sky art" that will use technology and folk magic to bring the Arctic northern lights to Cologne. Zimmermann, in World Literature Today, read the novel as an exploration of the theme of art's ability to transcend politics.

Among Kühn's biographical works, Varnhagen und sein später Schmäher: über einige Vorurteile Arno Schmidts is noted for its strong views about its subject, Berlin diplomat and journalist Karl August Ludwig Philipp Varnhagen (1785–1858). Unlike other critics who have looked more favorably on Varnhagen, Kühn sides with critic Arno Schmidt, who dismissed Varnhagen as an opportunist. Indeed, Liliane Weissberg pointed out in her German Quarterly review of Varnhagen und sein später Schmäher that the book is more a discussion of Schmidt than of its titular subject. Though she acknowledged Kühn's extensive research for this project, Weissberg found the "mixture of gossip, speculation, and vitriolic language" in his book a significant flaw. Kühn received the Hermann Hesse Prize for an earlier biography, Ich Wolkenstein: eine Biographie, on Middle High German poet Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377–1445).

Kühn has also written a respected translation of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Der Parzival, which critic David Yeandle, in Medium Aevum, praised for its readability. Yeandle noted that this translation, to which Kühn also contributed introductory material, "is an ideal edition for students … [that] will add to the ever-increasing body of secondary literature on Parzival in the most positive and pleasing way, in that it fulfills an essentially consolidatory role and sifts the wheat from the chaff." Kühn's body of criticism also includes works on German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Bavarian knight and Middle High German lyric poet Neidhart von Reuenthal, and Schmidt.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Stollberg, Jochen, editor, Dieter Kühn, Begleitheft zur Ausstellung der Stadt-und Universitätsbibliothek (Frankfurt, Germany), 1993.

PERIODICALS

German Quarterly, spring, 1997, Liliane Weissberg, review of Varnhagen und sein später Schmäher: über einige Vorurteile Arno Schmidts, pp. 199-200.

Medium Aevum, spring, 1996, David Yeandle, review of Der Parzival de Wolfram von Eschenbach, p. 165.

World Literature Today, spring, 1991, Ulf Zimmermann, review of Beethoven und der schwarze Geiger, p. 293; summer, 1998, Ulf Zimmermann, review of Der König von Grönland, p. 604.