The work of German poet Frederich Holderlin (1770-1843) has inspired countless poets and philosophers, from Paul Celan to Rainer Maria Rilke to Martin Heidegger and Friedrich Nietzsche. Despite the international renown and respect his hymns and elegies have since earned for their lyric style and innovative approach to Greek myth, his work was not widely celebrated during his lifetime. Diagnosed with a severe case of hypochondria at a young age, he was beset by mental illness for much of his life, living the final decades in the care of a carpenter. Though the details of Holderlin's life inspired the acute awareness of the lonely human condition that is at the center of many of his poems, there has previously been no serious biography of his life. In "Holderlin", well-known German writer Peter Weiss finally brings to the page the life and times of one of Germany's greatest poets. Weiss explains that he was motivated 'to describe something of the conflict that arises in a person who suffers to the point of madness from the injustices, the humiliations in his society, who completely supports the revolutionary upheavals, and yet does not find the praxis with which the misery can be remedied'. The resulting biography is a powerful celebration of the intense and influential poems of Holderlin and the life behind them.

About the Author

Peter Weiss (1916-82) was a German playwright, novelist, filmmaker, and painter. His works include the plays Marat/Sade and The New Trial and the novels The Shadow of the Body of the Coachman and The Conversation of the Three Walkers. Jon Swan is the author of two collections of poems and a collection of one-act plays. Carl Weber is professor emeritus of directing and dramaturgy at Stanford University.

Reviews

"One of the most significant works of postwar German literature.... Exhilaratingly strange, compelling, and original. Readers who dare to enter this demanding verbal landscape will not come away empty-handed." - Bookforum, on Weiss's The Aesthetics of Resistance"