Give Me a Sign of Life Again Soon
Correspondence 1943–1956
Two volumes | Edited by Gabriele Söhling
Give Me a Sign of Life Again Soon / Geben Sie bald wieder ein Lebenszeichen
Correspondence 1943–1956
Two volumes | Edited by Gabriele Söhling
On the occasion of Hans Erich Nossack’s 100th birthday, Suhrkamp published a selection of his correspondence from the years between 1943 and 1956 that shows Nossack as an important correspondent in conversation with Hermann Kasack, Peter Suhrkamp, Hans H. König, Ernst Kreuder, Peter Huchel, Joseph Breitbach and others.
The correspondence contained in this volume sets in after »the end« of Hamburg, described by Nossack in the eponymous novel. In light of the...
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On the occasion of Hans Erich Nossack’s 100th birthday, Suhrkamp published a selection of his correspondence from the years between 1943 and 1956 that shows Nossack as an important correspondent in conversation with Hermann Kasack, Peter Suhrkamp, Hans H. König, Ernst Kreuder, Peter Huchel, Joseph Breitbach and others.
The correspondence contained in this volume sets in after »the end« of Hamburg, described by Nossack in the eponymous novel. In light of the wartime events, the letters from the years between 1943 and 1945 are often a sign of life, of survival. The ensuing intense exchange of letters in the early post-war years, carried on by Nossack with unusual personal openness, is shaped by the battle with the hardships of everyday life, but is also informed by the spirit of optimism and the hope for an intellectual-political new beginning. With the long-awaited breakthrough as a writer, the circle of addressees begins to broaden after the late 1940s; against the backdrop of the cultural and economic years of reconstruction in West Germany, Nossack appears as a recognised writer who participates actively in literary life.
The conclusion of this collection is marked by the biographical caesura of the year 1956 – transitioning to Suhrkamp for good, giving up his father’s company and leaving Hamburg. After the earlier publication of the Diaries 1943 – 1977, this edition puts Nossack‘s letters in equal place with his literary oeuvre.
2001, 1024 pages
Persons
Hans Erich Nossack
Author
Hans Erich Nossack was born in Hamburg in 1901, and much of his writing was shaped by his relationship to his native city, where he died in 1977. His work was banned by the Nazi regime and most of his manuscripts were destroyed by the allied bombing of Hamburg in 1943. Hailed by Jean-Paul Sartre as one of the great German existentialist novelists, Hans Erich Nossack has long been considered a major writer throughout Europe. His essays, poems, plays and novels, including Dem unbekannten Sieger, Der Fall d'Arthez and Unmögliche Beweisaufnahme, won him some of Europe’s most important literary prizes.
Hans Erich Nossack
Author
Hans Erich Nossack was born in Hamburg in 1901, and much of his writing was shaped by his relationship to his native city, where he died in 1977....
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OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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Year of Publication: 1997
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1997
The Diaries 1943–1977
These diaries are important documents in understanding Hans Erich Nossack, a singular as well as exemplary literary figure of the 20th century; beyond that, they offer – both gripping and enlightening – an insight into a time in which the young Federal Republic of Germany was formed. After their publication, the importance of these diaries was recognised immediately and the edition received...
Year of Publication: 1975
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1975
For the Sake of Brevity
The short texts gathered in this volume were written between 1946 and 1974. In snapshots they convey the quintessence of a long literary biography.
Year of Publication: 1969
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1969
To the Unknown Hero
»Hans Erich Nossack belongs to the extraordinary lineage of German writers that includes Hesse, Kafka, Rilke, and Novalis. Jean-Paul Sartre has called him ›the most interesting contemporary German...
Rights sold to:
Poland (PIW)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: USA (FSG), UK (Alcove Press), Spanish world rights (Monte Avila), Finland (Gummerus), Japan (Shinchosha)
Year of Publication: 1968
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1968
The d'Arthes Case
Rights sold to:
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Russia (Progress), Denmark (Samlerens), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Poland (Czytelnik), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura), Romania / Republic of Moldova (Univers), Latvia (Liesma)
Year of Publication: 1961
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1961
The End
In 1943, three months after the »end of Hamburg«, Hans Erich Nossack gives an account of the catastrophe he witnessed. »Fate spared me playing a part in it … In my eyes, the entire...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Chicago UP), France (Héros-Limite), Sweden (Faethon), Greece (Skarifima)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (La Una Rota), Italy (Il Mulino), Netherlands (De Bezige Bij), Czech Republic (Staatsverlag für schöne Literatur), Hungary (Magvetö)
Year of Publication: 1959
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1959
The Impossible Proof
One of the greatest pieces of prose that German post-war literature has produced: The Impossible Proof, whose central theme is mankind’s »departure into the...
Rights sold to:
Netherlands (Uitgeverij Oevers)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: USA (FSG), UK (Barrie & Rockliff), Spanish world rights (Monte Avila), Italy (Il Mandarino), Denmark (Grafisk), Sweden (Norstedt), Japan (Hakusuisha), Czech Republic (Ceskoslovensky Spisovatel), South Africa (Afrikaans Pers Boekhandel)
Year of Publication: 1955
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1955
Wait for November
»A book that dares tell a real love story«: A woman leaves her husband to go with another she met one hour before.
»The power of love to crack the frozen surface of...
Rights sold to:
Netherlands (Oevers)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Fromm), Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), France (Gallimard), Italy (Feltrinelli), Sweden (Norstedt), Finland (Gummerus), Korea (Munhakdongne), Japan (Hakusuisha), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Odeon), Slovakia (Slovensky Spisovatel), Romania (Univers), Lithuania (Vaga), Croatia (Naprijed)
Year of Publication: 1947
Hans Erich NossackYear of Publication: 1947
An Offering for the Dead
»In Nossack’s work a survivor’s stay in a city of the dead filled with memories of their lives becomes an offering for the dead, as the title »Nekyia« suggests. Reality, which is experienced as a...
Rights sold to:
Russia (AST)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: USA (Eridanos), France (Gallimard)
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News
Hans Erich Nossack – 120th Birthday on 30 January 2021
Hans Erich Nossack was born in Hamburg in 1901.News