 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in German. (June 2022)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Lutz Seiler | |
|---|---|
 Lutz Seiler in 2010 | |
| Born | (1963-06-08)8 June 1963 (age 62) |
| Occupations | Poet and novelist |
| Website | https://lutzseiler.de/ |
Lutz Seiler (born 8 June 1963 inGera, Thuringia) is a German poet and novelist.[1] Considered one of the most important German poets living today,[2] he is the author of numerous books of poetry, prose, and essays, and gained national attention for his debut novelKruso. In 2023 he was awarded theGeorg Büchner Prize, the most prestigious award for German literature. He has served as the literary director and custodian of the Peter Huchel Museum since 1997.
Lutz Seiler grew up in the Langenberg district of Gera, Thuringia (formerEast Germany). After training as a skilled building construction worker, he worked as a bricklayer and carpenter. During his national service in theNational People's Army (NVA) of theDDR, he started to take an interest in literature and wrote his first poems. The poetPeter Huchel was amongst those he first admired. Later he said "Why I started to read and write, I still have no idea. Literature was of no interest to me."[3]
During the DDR years Seiler's home town of Gera grew rapidly to service theuranium mines atRonneburg and in his early poetry the symbolism of radioactivity was significant.[2] In the summer of 1989 Seiler worked as a seasonal employee on the island ofHiddensee, a popular former East German holiday resort located west of the island ofRügen off the north-eastern coast of Germany, an experience that later formed the basis of his first novel published in 2014,Kruso.[4]
Seiler read German Studies at the universities ofHalle (Saale) andBerlin up to 1990. From 1993 to 1998 he was co-editor of the short-lived literary journalMoosbrand published in Wilhelmshorst, nearPotsdam.
Since 1997 he has been the literary director and custodian at thePeter Huchel Museum in Wilhelmshorst, where he lives part time and writes in solitude. He also has a home in Stockholm with his wife. In 2005 he became a member ofPEN Centre Germany. In 2007 Seiler became a member of the Academy of the Arts and Sciences, Mainz and in 2010 a member of theBavarian Academy of Fine Arts and also theAcademy of Arts, Berlin.
In 2007, Seiler was awarded the prestigiousIngeborg Bachmann Prize for his short story volumeTurksib. Another volume of short stories,Die Zeitwaage was nominated for theLeipzig Book Fair Prize in 2010. In 2011 theGerman Academy for Language and Poetry elected Seiler a member. In 2015, Seiler held the chair in poetry atHeidelberg, presenting three papers based on themes from his early enjoyment of woodworking.[5]
In 2023, British publisherAnd Other Stories translated three of Seiler's works into English. That same year, he won theGeorg Büchner Prize.
Seiler's debut novelKruso, published in 2014, received theGerman Book Prize and theUwe Johnson Prize. It is set on the island ofHiddensee during the last months of the DDR.[6] It was also turned into anaudiobook and read by Franz Dinda.[7] It was published in English in February 2017 by Scribe Publications (translated by Tess Lewis).[8]
The island of Hiddensee was a popular East German resort and was close enough to the Danish coast to attract those who wanted to escape across theBaltic Sea to the West. During the summer months it attracted free-thinkers and dropouts from the mainland who would come to work in the tourist hotels and restaurants or as life-guards. Residents and seasonal workers were closely watched by the localStasi and by theNVA border guards who were on the lookout for people who might attempt to escape to Denmark.[citation needed]
InKruso, Edgar flees a personal tragedy, leaving his studies at the university of Halle to work on Hiddensee for the summer as a dishwasher at theZum Klausner restaurant. There he meets Alexander Krusowitsch, known as Kruso (with reference toRobinson Crusoe), who has also escaped from personal loss.
Kruso makes it his mission to teach the 'shipwrecked' people who flee to the island how to find an inner freedom which will enable them to return to their difficult lives on the mainland. However, with the fall of theBerlin Wall and the opening of the borders to the West, Kruso's Utopian community at the Klausner comes to a sudden end.
In September 2015,Kruso was adapted for the German stage by Dagmar Borrmann and performed at theMagdeburg Theatre under the direction of Cornelia Crombholz .[9] In March 2015 it was announced that the novel would also be filmed by the production companyUFA Fiction with Nico Hofmann as director.[10] The film was released in 2018 withAlbrecht Schuch in the title role and shown on German public television channelARD.[11]
