Guest of the ilb 2003
Tilman Spengler was born in Oberhausen in 1947. He studied Sinology, Political Science and Modern History in Heidelberg, Taipeh and Munich. After completing his doctoral studies, he initially worked as a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Social Sciences in Starnberg. In the early 80’s he taught and did research at the Academy of Sciences in Peking and at the Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study) in Berlin.
In addition to his academic work, he has written reports and essays for 'Die Zeit', 'Geo' and 'Die Woche'. Since 1980 he has been co-publisher of the 'Kursbuch'. Not only has Spengler worked as a writer, essayist and freelance journalist, he has also been active as a screenplay writer, documentary film maker ('Bitter Balkan', 1999), and as a speech writer for the former minister of culture Michael Naumann as well as for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. In 1999 Spengler was the town chronicler in Mainz and in 2003 received the Ernst-Hoferichter-Preis for his work.
In 1991 he published his first novel 'Lenins Hirn' which was very well received and has to date been translated into 21 languages. The novel draws on historical facts and focuses on the Berliner neurologist Prof. Dr. Oskar Vogt (1870–1959), who using Lenin’s brain, wants to produce physical proof of genius.
China, pictures, and portraits of China are taken as the subjects for 'Der Maler von Peking' (1996) and 'Die Stirn, die Augen, der Mund' (1999). Here Spengler combines his knowledge of Sinology with a joy for telling stories, thereby bringing to life two different epochs of China. He has a knack for irony and for mixing facts with fiction, which is also what makes his most recent book such a good read. 'Meine Gesellschaft. Kursbuch eines Unfertigen' (2001) is an autobiographical kaleidoscope of sorts, in which anecdote and fact, real and unreal are juxtaposed over 62 sections. Tilman Spengler takes the reader on a trip through his world – it’s motto: "certain facts are true, because one can only tell them like that and not differently." Tilman Spengler lives in Ambach at Lake Starnberg and in Berlin.
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