Nossack, Hans Erich (Hamburg, 1901-77, Hamburg), the son of a coffee merchant, studied law and philosophy in Jena, but after a few semesters turned to a number of jobs before joining his father's business in 1933; in the same year he was banned from publishing. Having continued to write, encouraged by H. Kasack, he lost all his manuscripts in the severe bombing of Hamburg from 24 July to 3 August 1943; they included a play on Lenin and one on Der Hessische Landbote. He recorded the harrowing experience of the devastated city in Der Untergang, published in 1948 with nine other episodes concerned with the 1939-45 War and its immediate aftermath as Interview mit dem Tode (retitled Dorothea in 1950). The same background is central to Nekyia. Bericht eines Überlebenden (1947) in which a web of dream, fantasy, and recollection passes through the mind of the survivor of an appalling catastrophe; it exemplifies Nossack's distinct style of writing combining stringent reportage with motifs from myth and fairy-tales. He felt an outsider in a bleak world, groping for a means of living in and with it. Though resisting nihilism, he had a close affinity with existentialism and was recognized by Sartre before the German public took note of him. His novels include Spätestens im November (1955) in which he comes closest to realism, Spirale. Roman einer schlaflosen Nacht (1956) consisting of visions of the unforeseeable, Nach dem letzten Aufstand (1961), and Dem unbekannten Sieger (1969). His stories are collected in the volumes Begegnung im Vorraum (1963) and Das Mal und andere Erzählungen (1965). His later novels, including Der Fall d'Arthez (1968) and Die gestohlene Melodie (1972), widened the gap between his work and contemporary literature, though his basic message is one of hope. Nossack, who also wrote poetry and a number of plays, acknowledged the influence of a number of writers and artists, among them E. Barlach, M. Beckmann, Kleist, Hebbel, and Strindberg; he gave the funeral oration for H. H. Jahnn (Rede am Grabe, 1960). His correspondence with H. Kasack and P. Suhrkamp is contained in the collection Dieser Andere. Ein Lesebuch mit Briefen, Gedichten und Prosa (1976), ed. C. Schmid. S. Lenz has described him as the ‘chronicler of our delusions’ (1976, in Elfenbeinturm und Barrikade, 1983). His essays include the volumes Die schwache Position der Literatur (1966) and Das Verhältnis der Literatur zu Recht und Gerechtigkeit (1967) which contains his address to the Akademie für Wissenschaften und Literatur in Mainz of which he was a member. His numerous high honours include the Büchner Prize (1961) and the Pour le mérite for science and art (1973). The volume Die Erzählungen (1987) is a selection with a postscript by C. Schmid, who also edited Aus den Akten der Kanzlei seiner Exzellenz des Premierministers Tod (1987).

The Oxford Companion to German Literature. Copyright © 1976, 1986, 1997, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.