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© Hartwig Klappert
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Dieter M. Gräf
Germany
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Dieter M. Gräf was born
in Ludwigshafen/Rhine in 1960. He began writing poems at fifteen, and
later worked as a journalist while studying German, Political Science
and Philosophy in Mannheim. In 1985 he published the collection of
poems »mein vaterland« (t: my home country), the first of several hand
press publications. Alongside his main endeavours, Gräf also organised
various intermedia projects, such as »zuckungsbringer« (t: convulsion
bringer) with Thomas Gruber.
Gräf has received numerous grants and
prizes for his radical collage-like, deconstructive poetry. 1994 saw
the publication of a collection of poems »Rauschstudie: Vater + Sohn«
(t: Study in intoxication/noise: Father + Son). The title aptly
identifies Gräf’s characteristic treatment of language as working with
the sounds of language, effect of meaning on the borderline to noise,
and as sensual intoxication produced by words. In doing so, his
preferred stylistic device is enjambement which splits words without
using hyphens and makes visible their material character transplanting
them from their usual frame of reference to a range of different
contexts. One year after being awarded the Joseph Breitbach Prize of
Rhineland-Palatinate, Gräf received the Leonce and Lena Prize. In 1997
a second volume, »Treibender Kopf« (t: Drifting head) was published
followed shortly afterwards by »Westrand« (2002; t: Western fringe). In
these works, Gräf makes use of experiences from numerous journeys
abroad, including trips to India, Los Angeles and the Sinai Desert, to
lend new perspectives to Western myths such as the legend of
Barbarossa, the Hermann Battle and the Red Army Faction. As with his
earlier works, the volume is provided with a substantial appendix,
combining secondary sources with personal experience, thus dispelling a
number of clichés. In a joint exhibition with Margret Eicher entitled
»Tussirecherche« (2000; t: Bimbo investigation), Gräf's artistic
principle was made visual. Here, the artists undermine the aesthetics
of advertising, infiltrating familiar typographies, logos and slogans
with foreign content. »Gräf instills quasi-computer viruses within a
closed system; in other words, small bombs, small sources of
disruption, which do indeed have an impact if one gets into the texts
... They demonstrate the utmost potential of lyrical speech and as such
also of communication.« (Klaus Wiegerling)
Gräf's aesthetic
principle which seeks out beauty – even transcendence – in creative
confrontation also comes to the fore in his newly edited anthology of
poems »Das leuchtende Buch. Die Welt als Wunder und Gedicht« (2004; t:
The illuminated book: The world as wonder and poem«). The book is a
collection of 150 poems from world literature that focus on the force
of the visionary, faith in the divine and the power of creativity. His
latest publications are the bilingual (German-English) selection of
poems »Tousled Beauty« (2005) and the CD »Taifun« (2005/06; t:
Typhoon), a collaboration with the composer Volker Staub. Having lived
in Cologne for fifteen years, Gräf now lives in Berlin.
© internationales literaturfestival berlin
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
mein vaterland
Edition Wagner
Berlin, 1985
Rauschstudie: Vater + Sohn
Suhrkamp
Frankfurt/Main, 1994
Treibender Kopf
Suhrkamp
Frankfurt/Main, 1997
Westrand
Suhrkamp
Frankfurt/Main, 2002
Das leuchtende Buch [Hg.]
Suhrkamp
Frankfurt/Main, 2004 |
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