Enzensberger, Hans Magnus
Entry updated 28 November 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1929-2022) German poet, critic, editor, publisher, translator and author who also wrote as by Elisabeth Ambras, Giorgio Pellizzi, Linda Quilt and Andres Thalmayr, active from around 1950. Primarily a poet, he wrote at least one adult novel, plus several for child and Young Adult audiences. Of the latter, Der Zahlenteufel (1997; trans by Michael Henry Heim as The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure 2000) is a fantasy exploration of Mathematics, as taught in dreams to the young protagonist by the friendly titular demon (see Gods and Demons) as a didactic antidote to maths anxiety; Wo warst du, Robert? (1998; trans Anthea Bell as Where Were You, Robert? 2000; vt Lost in Time 2000) is a Time Travel tale whose protagonist falls farther and farther into the past through images on television and movie screens, until he lands in the Netherlands as the Thirty Years' War is beginning. Der Untergang der Titanic (1978; trans author as The Sinking of the Titanic 1980 chap), a narrative poem, translates the sinking of the Titanic into a legend emblematic of the course of Western civilization towards apocalypse. [JC]
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
born Kaufbeuren, Germany: 11 November 1929
died Munich, Germany: 24 November 2022
works (highly selected)
- Der Zahlenteufel. Ein Kopfkissenbuch für alle, die Angst vor der Mathematik haben (Munich, Germany: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1997) [illus/Rotraut Susanne Berner: binding unknown/]
- The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure (New York: Henry Holt, 2000) [trans by Michael Henry Heim of the above: illus/Rotraut Susanne Berner: pb/]
- Wo warst du, Robert? (Berlin: Karl Hanser Verlag, 1998) [hb/]
- Where Were You, Robert? (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2000) [trans by Anthea Bell of the above: hb/]
- Lost in Time (New York: Holt, 2000) [vt of the above: hb/Pierre Paul Pariseau]
- Where Were You, Robert? (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2000) [trans by Anthea Bell of the above: hb/]
- Der Untergang der Titanic (Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1978) [poem: hb/]
- The Sinking of the Titanic (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980) [poem: chap: trans by author of the above: hb/nonpictorial]
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