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Ingrid Babendererde. Reifeprüfung 1953. EinFach Deutsch Unterrichtsmodelle: Gymnasiale Oberstufe
German
Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
3 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Uwe Johnson
101 books63 followersUwe Johnson was a German writer, editor, and scholar.
Johnson was born in Kammin in Pomerania (now Kamień Pomorski, Poland). His father was a Swedish-descent peasant from Mecklenburg and his mother was from Pommern. At the end of World War II in 1945, he fled with his family to Anklam (West Pomerania); his father died in a Soviet internment camp (Fünfeichen). The family eventually settled in Güstrow, where he attended John-Brinckman-Oberschule 1948–1952. He went on to study German philology, first in Rostock (1952–54), then in Leipzig (1954–56). His Diplomarbeit (final thesis) was on Ernst Barlach. Due to his lack of political support for the Communist regime of East Germany, he was suspended from the University on 17 June 1953 but was later reinstated.
Beginning in 1953, Johnson worked on the novel Ingrid Babendererde, rejected by various publishing houses and unpublished during his lifetime.
In 1956, Johnson's mother left for West Berlin. As a result, he was not allowed to work a normal job in the East. Unemployed for political reasons, he translated Herman Melville's Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (the translation was published in 1961) and began to write the novel Mutmassungen über Jakob, published in 1959 by Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main. Johnson himself moved to West Berlin at this time. He promptly became associated with Gruppe 47, which Hans Magnus Enzensberger once described as "the Central Café of a literature without a capital." [1]
During the early 1960s, Johnson continued to write and publish fiction, and also supported himself as a translator, mainly from English-language works, and as an editor. He travelled to America in 1961; the following year he was married, had a daughter, received a scholarship to Villa Massimo, Rome, and won the Prix International.
1964 - for the Berliner Tagesspiegel, Reviews of GDR television programmes boycotted by the West German press (published under the title "Der 5. Kanal", "The Fifth Channel", 1987).
In 1965, Johnson travelled again to America. He then edited Bertolt Brecht's Me-ti. Buch der Wendungen. Fragmente 1933-1956 (Me-ti: the Book of Changes. Fragments, 1933-1956). From 1966 through 1968 he worked in New York City as a textbook editor at Harcourt, Brace & World and lived with his family in an apartment at 243 Riverside Drive (Manhattan). During this time (in 1967) he began work on his magnum opus, the Jahrestage and edited Das neue Fenster (The new window), a textbook of German-language readings for English-speaking students learning German.
On 1 January 1967 protesters from Johnson's own West Berlin apartment building founded Kommune 1. He first learned about it by reading it in the newspaper. Returning to West Berlin in 1969, he became a member of the West German PEN Center and of the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts). In 1970, he published the first volume of his Jahrestage (Anniversaries). Two more volumes were to follow in the next three years, but the fourth volume would not appear until 1983.
Meanwhile, in 1972 Johnson became Vice President of the Academy of the Arts and was the editor of Max Frisch's Tagebuch 1966-1971. In 1974, he moved to Sheerness on the English Isle of Sheppey; shortly after, he broke off work on Jahrestage due partly to health problems and partly to writer's block.
This was not a completely unproductive period. Johnson published some shorter works and continued to do some work as an editor. In 1977, he was admitted to the Darmstädter Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (Darmstadt Academy for Speech and Writing); two years later he informally withdrew. In 1979 he gave a series of Lectures on poetics at the University of Frankfurt (published posthumously as Begleitumstände. Frankfurter Vorlesungen).
In 1983, the fourth volume of Jahrestage was published, but Johnson broke off a reading tour for health reasons. He died on 22 February 1984 in Sheerness in England. His body was not found until
Johnson was born in Kammin in Pomerania (now Kamień Pomorski, Poland). His father was a Swedish-descent peasant from Mecklenburg and his mother was from Pommern. At the end of World War II in 1945, he fled with his family to Anklam (West Pomerania); his father died in a Soviet internment camp (Fünfeichen). The family eventually settled in Güstrow, where he attended John-Brinckman-Oberschule 1948–1952. He went on to study German philology, first in Rostock (1952–54), then in Leipzig (1954–56). His Diplomarbeit (final thesis) was on Ernst Barlach. Due to his lack of political support for the Communist regime of East Germany, he was suspended from the University on 17 June 1953 but was later reinstated.
Beginning in 1953, Johnson worked on the novel Ingrid Babendererde, rejected by various publishing houses and unpublished during his lifetime.
In 1956, Johnson's mother left for West Berlin. As a result, he was not allowed to work a normal job in the East. Unemployed for political reasons, he translated Herman Melville's Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (the translation was published in 1961) and began to write the novel Mutmassungen über Jakob, published in 1959 by Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main. Johnson himself moved to West Berlin at this time. He promptly became associated with Gruppe 47, which Hans Magnus Enzensberger once described as "the Central Café of a literature without a capital." [1]
During the early 1960s, Johnson continued to write and publish fiction, and also supported himself as a translator, mainly from English-language works, and as an editor. He travelled to America in 1961; the following year he was married, had a daughter, received a scholarship to Villa Massimo, Rome, and won the Prix International.
1964 - for the Berliner Tagesspiegel, Reviews of GDR television programmes boycotted by the West German press (published under the title "Der 5. Kanal", "The Fifth Channel", 1987).
In 1965, Johnson travelled again to America. He then edited Bertolt Brecht's Me-ti. Buch der Wendungen. Fragmente 1933-1956 (Me-ti: the Book of Changes. Fragments, 1933-1956). From 1966 through 1968 he worked in New York City as a textbook editor at Harcourt, Brace & World and lived with his family in an apartment at 243 Riverside Drive (Manhattan). During this time (in 1967) he began work on his magnum opus, the Jahrestage and edited Das neue Fenster (The new window), a textbook of German-language readings for English-speaking students learning German.
On 1 January 1967 protesters from Johnson's own West Berlin apartment building founded Kommune 1. He first learned about it by reading it in the newspaper. Returning to West Berlin in 1969, he became a member of the West German PEN Center and of the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts). In 1970, he published the first volume of his Jahrestage (Anniversaries). Two more volumes were to follow in the next three years, but the fourth volume would not appear until 1983.
Meanwhile, in 1972 Johnson became Vice President of the Academy of the Arts and was the editor of Max Frisch's Tagebuch 1966-1971. In 1974, he moved to Sheerness on the English Isle of Sheppey; shortly after, he broke off work on Jahrestage due partly to health problems and partly to writer's block.
This was not a completely unproductive period. Johnson published some shorter works and continued to do some work as an editor. In 1977, he was admitted to the Darmstädter Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (Darmstadt Academy for Speech and Writing); two years later he informally withdrew. In 1979 he gave a series of Lectures on poetics at the University of Frankfurt (published posthumously as Begleitumstände. Frankfurter Vorlesungen).
In 1983, the fourth volume of Jahrestage was published, but Johnson broke off a reading tour for health reasons. He died on 22 February 1984 in Sheerness in England. His body was not found until
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 12, 2023
Ich bin etwas ratlos. Eigentlich kann ich ein Buch von Uwe Johnson nicht nach einmaliger Lektüre wirklich beurteilen. Und es sind gerade in diesem Buch so viele Dinge, die mir das Lesen schwer gemacht haben. Die teils längeren Passagen auf Platt oder Seglersprech. Dann die sprunghaften Perspektivwechsel. Es gibt andererseits so viele wunderschöne, fast lyrische Formulierungen und überraschende Wortschöpfungen. Der Sprachgebrauch erinnerte mich manchmal an Arno Schmidt. Gelegentlich, in nicht zu ferner Zukunft, muss ich „Ingrid Babendererde“ nochmal lesen. (Mir fällt auf, dass ich das in letzter Zeit immer häufiger denke, wenn ich ein Buch beendet habe.)
April 9, 2025
Die Handlung kommt nur schwer in Gang, durch die eigenwillige Sprache ist das Buch dadurch teilweise etwas unzugänglich. Dennoch ein gutes Buch mit einer Symbiose aus Sprache und Inhalt.
May 18, 2016
Als von den "Jahrestagen" schlichtweg Begeisterte hatte ich hohe inhaltliche wie stilistische Erwartungen - und viel Vorfreude - hinsichtlich dieses "Prequels" des noch ganz jungen Johnson.
Weit davon entfernt, in diesen hohen Erwartungen enttäuscht zu werden, bin ich letztlich sehr froh, dieses Frühwerk erst nach den "Jahrestagen" gelesen zu haben. Ich bin nicht sicher, ob mich die doch sehr eigenwillige grammatikalisch, interpunktionelle und stilistische Form, die die Reifeprüfung doch manchmal etwas umständlich daher kommen läßt, mich ausreichend motivieren können, weitere Johnson-Werke zu lesen.
Interessant sicherlich, beide Werke - in welcher Reihenfolge auch immer - zu lesen, beleuchtet das eine den inhaltlichen Hintergrund vieler Aspekte des anderen. Und zeigt sich auch, welche Entwicklung Johnson im Verlaufe seiner Werke in seiner Kunstfertigkeit als Stilist und Erzähler genommen hat.
Inhaltlich ist an anderer Stelle umfassend über die "Reifeprüfung 1953" geschrieben worden, so daß ich hier von Wiederholungen absehe.
Weit davon entfernt, in diesen hohen Erwartungen enttäuscht zu werden, bin ich letztlich sehr froh, dieses Frühwerk erst nach den "Jahrestagen" gelesen zu haben. Ich bin nicht sicher, ob mich die doch sehr eigenwillige grammatikalisch, interpunktionelle und stilistische Form, die die Reifeprüfung doch manchmal etwas umständlich daher kommen läßt, mich ausreichend motivieren können, weitere Johnson-Werke zu lesen.
Interessant sicherlich, beide Werke - in welcher Reihenfolge auch immer - zu lesen, beleuchtet das eine den inhaltlichen Hintergrund vieler Aspekte des anderen. Und zeigt sich auch, welche Entwicklung Johnson im Verlaufe seiner Werke in seiner Kunstfertigkeit als Stilist und Erzähler genommen hat.
Inhaltlich ist an anderer Stelle umfassend über die "Reifeprüfung 1953" geschrieben worden, so daß ich hier von Wiederholungen absehe.
September 18, 2016
After long consideration I changed my rating from 2 to 3 stars. The novel is painfully to read, but the actual narrative is a valuable document of GDR literature: it tells the story of some kind of teenage rebellion during the initial years of the GDR.
August 13, 2021
Wiedergelesen - immer noch begeistert
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews