Guest of the ilb 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008
Peter Schneider was born in Lübeck in 1940 and grew up in Freiburg, where he began his studies in German language, history and philosophy. He completed his education in Berlin. He wrote speeches for SPD politicians during the Bundestag election campaign in 1965. Schneider quickly found a role as one of the key activists in the 1968 students’ movement. He has written short stories, novels, scripts, and commentaries. In addition, he has written essays and speeches that have tackled, with incisive arguments, the political and ideological questions of his time. Since 1985 he has taught as a guest lecturer at American universities, including Stanford and Princeton. He has been teaching as a Writer in Residence at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. since 1996.
Peter Schneider’s texts are a mixture of politics and literature. In his story »Lenz«, written in 1973, he presents a very critical no-holds-barred analysis of the 1968 movement. Schneider’s »Lenz« is similar to Büchner’s »Lenz« insofar, as both works portray destruction directly resulting from the individual’s desire for freedom. The Lenz of the late sixties agitates extensively using posters and texts. He takes part in demonstrations and sit-ins only to feel the pointlessness of it all when his girlfriend leaves him. After an inspiring journey through Italy he abandons his theories in favour of a liberating form of self analysis, with particular emphasis on the physical self and his relationship to it. In »Der Mauerspringer« (1982; Eng. »The Wall Jumper«, 1983) Schneider deals with the »wall in the head« – a term which was coined by him. Last autumn, the book was published in the »Penguin Modern Classic« series with a foreword by Ian McEwan.
»Paarungen« (Eng. »Couplings«, 1998) – his first novel, published in 1992 – is an in depth critical discussion between the main character Eduard, who is a molecular biologist, and his friends. The central theme of their heated discussion focuses on the faded illusions of the ’68 movement. The protagonist, having become part of that society which he formerly rebelled against, tries to test his utopian ideals of twenty years before in his new social status. Schneider’s publication, »Das Fest der Missverständnisse« (2003; t: The party of misunderstandings) is a compilation of old and new short stories. In these, Schneider is concerned with the moment in which the mind goes blank, as in the case of Burk, who has committed himself to the history of medicine in the Third Reich. Schneider lately published an autobiographical chronicle of the '68 movement, entitled »Rebellion und Wahn« (2008; t: Rebellion and delusion). In the book, the worldwide awakening of ’67/’68 and an amour fou are entangled with the conflict between artistic ambition and political activism, as well as the juxtaposition of ideas how to save the world nd a deep, personal desperation. Schneider lives in Berlin.
© international literature festival berlin
Peter Schneider online: www.peterschneider-autor.de
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ansprachen
Wagenbach
Berlin, 1970
Die Wette
Rotbuch Verlag
Berlin, 1978
Messer im Kopf
Rotbuch Verlag
Berlin, 1979
The wall jumper
Pantheon Books
New York, 1983
[T: Leigh Hafrey]
Totoloque, das Geiseldrama von Mexiko – Tenochtitlan
Luchterhand
Darmstadt; Neuwied, 1985
Ratte – tot: Briefwechsel
Peter Schneider / Peter-Jürgen Boock
Luchterhand
Darmstadt; Neuwied, 1985
Vati
Luchterhand
Darmstadt; Neuwied, 1987
Deutsche Ängste
Luchterhand
Farmstadt, 1988
The German Comedy
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
New York, 1991
[T: Philip Boehm and Leigh Hafrey]
Vom Ende der Gewissheit
Rowohlt
Berlin, 1994
Das Versprechen oder der lange Atem der Liebe
Peter Schneider / Margarethe von Trotta
Verlag Volk und Welt
Berlin, 1994
Couplings
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
New York, 1996
[T: Philip Boehm]
Eduard's Homecoming
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
New York, 2000
[T: John Brownjohn]
Die Diktatur der Geschwindigkeit: Ausflüge, Zwischenrufe
Transit
Berlin, 2000
Und wenn wir eine Stunde gewinnen
Rowohlt
Berlin, 2001
Lenz, in "Three Contemporary German Novellas"
The German Library, Vol. 88
New York, 2001
Das Fest der Mißverständnisse
Rowohlt
Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2003
Skylla
Rowohlt
Berlin, 2005
Rebellion und Wahn: mein 68: eine autobiographische Erzählung
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Köln, 2008
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