Russia (selection; Obedinennoe)
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In this black book, Enzensberger sets his sights on a subject that many artistic contemporaries of his shun: failure.
»There are few experiences that I owe so much to; I would even say that my flops have found a place near to my heart over time. They provide insight into the production requirement, manners and usages of the cultural sector and help the unsuspecting person to gauge the snares, minefields and self-detonating devices that s/he should expect in this field.«
The author demonstrates this using stories and ideas, exposes, treatments, scenes and projects from fifty years. Much of what was scrapped or sent on the way to the cinema screen, theatre and opera stages, to magazines or publishing companies, whether justified or not, is reviewed in this black book.
Who or what was responsible for the smaller and greater defeats? Was it money, justice or one’s own cockiness? But for Enzensberger that is not the crux of the matter. Whinging, he says, is unhealthy. He would rather enjoy himself and to round things off, he leaves the reader ideas that he can help himself to, free of charge and postage.
»Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s fiery double blow: A book about his greatest flops and another about the wild sparks of his thoughts.« Zeit Online
»The book of his best failures […] This is Enzenberger part and parcel […] An intellectual autobiography. An unbelievably lively, clever work, packed with ideas – a book for a movement […] Failure has seldom been conceived as such an opportunity by his contemporaries. His so-called flops are more interesting, richer and more instructional than some life works.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
»If Enzensberger didn’t exist, he’d have to be invented.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Hans Magnus Enzensberger was born in Kaufbeuren in 1929. He died on November 24, 2022, aged 93, in Munich. As a poet, essayist, writer, biographer, editor and translator, he was one of the world’s most influential and internationally renowned German intellectuals.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger was born in Kaufbeuren in 1929. He died on November 24, 2022, aged 93, in Munich. As a poet, essayist, writer,...
Babel! A word seemingly born from chaos in its alliterating, rolling urgency. The poet pulls several examples of how deception and self-deceit, misjudgements and failing routines determine...
Bengali rights (Parampara)
»How’s the confidence of the financial astrologers doing? What does the gibberish of the daily papers tell us? How much reality is contained in the mythical models of contemporary physics and cosmology? Towards which ultimate goal is our contemporaries’ pathological mobility drifting? What is the ubiquitous craze for abbreviations hiding? And down which garden path are the fine arts trying to...
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Nature has treated people somewhat like a stepmother would. Other animals are stronger, can swim and fly better, give birth less awkwardly and do not need as much time to become adults. How can it be then that this weak creature came to be the strongest on earth? The answer, if you believe the author, has to do with the division of labour. Thanks to this trick every one of us, he believes,...
The hitherto unpublished and unknown correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Hans Magnus Enzensberger allows one to relive how, after the Second World War, two of the most prominent writers in the German language chose to depict and regard the world, literature and the publishing industry, but also how they wished to present and be regarded themselves.
One was...
»It is hard to shake off one’s date of birth. M. drags his around with him, too.« The first twenty years of life are baggage that a person is forever stuck with. But...
Spanish world rights (Anagrama), France (Gallimard), Serbia (Laguna)
The 20th century was the heyday of writers who had survived state terror and purges with all the ethical and political ambivalences that this entailed. How did they manage to do that? Were they...
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In 1963 the author took his first trip to Russia and unexpectedly became a guest at Khrushchev's dacha in Gagra. The result was a detailed portrait of the man and the Soviet »Thaw«...
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Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Malpaso)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Der Hörverlag), German Entire Radio Reading (HR), German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg)
English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Anagrama), France (Alma)
Domestic Rights Sales:German Audiobook (Der Hörverlag), German Radio Play (Hessischer Rundfunk)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi)
In his new book, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, the master of the political and literary essay, discloses information about matters big and small, daily and commonplace themes, astounding his readers...
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Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Malpaso), Italy (Einaudi), Korea (Orot)
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Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Anagrama), Catalan rights (Arcadia), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Cossee), Denmark (Hovedland), Sweden (Karneval), Norway (Valdisholm), Croatia (Meandarmedia), Greece (Nefeli)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Seagull), Italy (Einaudi)
In 1959, just after Uwe Johnson’s relocation to West berlin and the publication of his debut novel Speculations About Jakob, the correspondence and friendship between Johnson and Hans Magnus Enzensberger commences. Over the course of eight years they communicate about the situation of literature and politics and discuss the scopes of political activism. At the same time,...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Denmark (Gyldendal)
English world rights (Upper West Side Philosophers)
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Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Cossée), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedts), Norway (Press), Japan (Shobunsha), Poland (Swiat Ksiazki), Croatia (Disput), Serbia (Prometej), Turkey (Everest), Greece (Kastaniotis)
Spanish world rights (Anagrama)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi), Finland (Savukeidas), Estonia (Loomingu Raamatukogu)