This is another blog post about a famous author who wrote in German but wasn’t German. Franz Kafka is one of the most important and influential writers of the 20th century. His works, which include novels, short stories, and essays, are characterised by their dark humor, absurdist themes, and exploration of the human condition. Kafka … Read more
Today’s blog post is again about a famous author who wasn’t German but Swiss. Johanna Spyri, who was born on the 12th June 1827 and died on the 7th July 1901, was a Swiss author of novels, especially children’s stories. The most famous one was Heidi, and even if you haven’t read any of her … Read more
Most of you have probably heard of David Attenborough and have watched some of his fantastic films about animal and plant life on Earth. But today I want to tell you about Bernhard Grzimek, with whose TV programmes I grew up. “Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek (24 April 1909 – 13 March 1987) was a German … Read more
“Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 1788 – 26 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist.” This sentence is from Wikipedia, where you can read more about Eichendorff in English. But that wouldn’t help your German much, right? So I have searched and found a nice easy website with … Read more
The composer Georg Friedrich Händel was born on the 23rd February 1685 in Halle, Germany. He died on the 14th April 1759 in London, England. You probably know him as George Frederick Handel. Although he was born in Germany, he became a British national after he moved to London and slightly changed his name. I won’t … Read more
Image credit: Elke Wetzig If you are expecting a post about a famous German author I have to disappoint you. Although Friedrich Dürrematt was a German speaking author, he was, however, Swiss. But many UK German A-Level students will have read one of his books: ‘Der Besuch der alten Dame’ (‘The Visit’ in English). Or … Read more
I can’t paint! My drawings have never gone past the matchstick men stage. So I do what I do better, I take pictures, especially landscape pictures. I love taking photos of the glorous countryside in Wiltshire and, of course, I love paintings that look like photos. And this leads me to today’s post about Caspar … Read more
“Konrad Alexander Friedrich Duden (3 January 1829 – 1 August 1911) was a Gymnasium (high school) teacher who became a philologist. He founded the well-known German language dictionary bearing his name Duden.” (Source Wikipedia) I was surprised to see how short the English Wikipedia article about Konrad Duden was. I wanted to know what made … Read more
Image credit: AxelHH Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963) was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher and conductor. He was born in Hanau near Frankfurt and died in Frankfurt. Despite a prolonged decline in his physical health, Hindemith composed almost until his death. Wikipedia has more information about him in English and … Read more
Theodor Storm (full name Hans Theodor Wolsen Storm was born on 14 September 1817 in Husum, Germany, close to the Danish border. He died on 4 July 1888. He studied law but then became one of the most important authors of 19th-century German Literary realism. At school in Germany we had to read some of … Read more
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