Uwe Timm | |
|---|---|
 Timm (2023) | |
| Born | (1940-03-30)30 March 1940 (age 85) Bad Kreuznach, Germany |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich |
| Period | 1971–present |
| Employer(s) | Washington University in St. Louis Swansea University University of Warwick |
| Notable works | Am Beispiel meines Bruders, Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel, |
| Notable awards | Heinrich-Böll-Preis 2009 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 1990 |
| Spouse | Dagmar Ploetz |
| Children | 4 |
Uwe Timm (German pronunciation:[ˈuːvətɪm]ⓘ; born 30 March 1940 inHamburg) is a German writer.
Uwe Timm was born in 1940 in Bad Kreuznach, and was the youngest son in his family. His brother, 16 years his senior, was a soldier in theWaffen-SS and died in Ukraine in 1943. Decades later, Uwe Timm dealt with his relationship with his father and brother in the critically acclaimed novelIn My Brother's Shadow.
After working as a furrier, Timm studied Philosophy and German inMunich and Paris, achieving a PhD in German literature in 1971 with his thesisThe Problem of Absurdity in the Works ofAlbert Camus. During his studies, Timm was engaged in leftist activities of the 1960s. He became a member of theSocialist German Student Union and was associated withBenno Ohnesorg. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of theGerman Communist Party. Three times Timm was appointed writer-in-residence at universities in English-speaking countries: in 1981 at theUniversity of Warwick, in 1994 atSwansea University, and in 1997 atWashington University in St. Louis. He has also been a lecturer at universities in Paderborn, Darmstadt, Lüneburg, and Frankfurt.
Timm started publishing in the early 1970s and became known to a larger audience in Germany after one of his children's books,Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel, was turned into the movieRudy, the Racing Pig [de] (1995). Today he is one of the most successful contemporary authors in Germany. His booksDie Entdeckung der Currywurst (The Invention of Curried Sausage) andAm Beispiel meines Bruders (In My Brother's Shadow, or literally: "By My Brother's Example") can both be found in the syllabi of German schools. His readers usually appreciate Timm's writing style, which he himself calls "die Ästhetik des Alltags" ("the aesthetics of everyday life").[1] Timm uses everyday vocabulary and simple sentences and generally tries to imitate the way stories are orally told. His works often indirectly connect with each other by taking a minor character from one story and making this character the main character of another work. For example, a minor character like Frau Brücker fromJohannisnacht becomes a main character inDie Entdeckung der Currywurst. Timm's works also tend to have autobiographical features and often deal with, or are set in, the German past.[2]
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