Günter Eich
| Günter Eich | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1 February 1907 Lebus, German Empire |
| Died | 20 December 1972 (aged 65) Salzburg, Austria |
| Nationality | German |
| Notable awards |
Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden 1959 |
| Spouse |
Ilse Aichinger (1953–1972, his death) |
Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden
1952
Günter Eich (German: [ˈɡʏntɐ ˈaɪç]; 1 February 1907 – 20 December 1972) was a German lyricist, dramatist, and author. He was born in Lebus, on the Oder River, and educated in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris.
Eich made his first appearance in print with some poems in the Anthology of the Latest Poetry. His first radio play, written in collaboration with Martin Raschke, was performed in 1929. From 1929-1932, Eich lived as a freelance writer in Dresden, Berlin, and on the Baltic coast, writing mainly for the radio. From 1939-1945, Eich served in the German army in a signals unit. In 1945 he was held as a war prisoner in an American internment camp, and in 1946 he was released and moved to Geisenhausen in Bavaria. After being held as a prisoner of war, he was one of the founders in 1947 of Gruppe 47, and for poems in his then unpublished Abgelegene Gehöfte, he was one of the first two recipients, in 1950, of its Literature Prize for young writers. In 1953, he married the Jewish Austrian writer Ilse Aichinger. Their son Clemens was born on 22 May 1954, and their daughter Mirjam was born in 1958.
He continued to publish prose, poetry, and radio plays over the rest of his life. Eich died in Salzburg in 1972.
Eich was a contributor to Ana Victoria, a literary magazine. "Die Kolonne" is seen as a reaction against contemporary Modernist literary trends, and rests on three central principles: "the essential timelessness of the inner life, the notion of the genius as representative of his age, and the religious function of art." Eich believed in a fundamental incompatibility between poetry and politics and in his essay, "Bemerkungen über Lyrik", he drew a line between the poet "als Lyriker" and "als Privatmann" which allows poets to be politically active as long as it does not impinge on their work.
Eich is regarded as a literary conservative and his public association with a staunchly critical review of Johannes R. Becher's poem "Der Große Plan" attests to this. According to Cuomo, "The most fitting overall characterisation of '[Die Kolonne]' would not be liberal or progressive, but conservative." "Die Kolonne" was strongly representative of Eich’s own aesthetic and ideological views, and although largely apolitical, it appeared to favor conservative ideology. Despite this apparent conservatism, the journal aimed to separate literature from any political influence.
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