David Basker – författare

Uwe Timm belongs to the generation of writers whose early careers were shaped by personal experience of the student movement in the Federal Republic of the late 1960s. Heiser Sommer, Timm's first novel, deals directly with such individual experience of the protests and with a sense of disillusionment which followed. The author's subsequent novels have, among many other topics, focused on the issues of colonialism and the environment, while his shorter prose works give literary expression to his personal 'Asthetik des Alltags'. Uwe Timm follows the pattern of earlier volumes in the Contemporary German Writers series. It opens with a previously unpublished prose piece by Timm, followed by an interview that the author gave during his visit to the Centre for Contemporary German Literature at University Wales Swansea. Subsequent critical essays focus on the main areas of Timm's work, including the student novels (Heiser Sommer and Kerbels Flucht), anthropological elements in Timm's work, and an assessment of his shorter prose work in the light of the essays on literary technique contained in Erzahlen und kein Ende. The volume concludes with a full bibliography of primary and secondary material.

Hermann-Peter Piwitt belongs to the generation of West German writers the beginning of whose careers coincided with the student movement of 1968. His career is of particular interest from the perspective of a Europe in which a left-wing alternative to the politics of the centre, has disappeared. Through a series of academic articles in English and German, this volume charts his career, from early left-wing commitment, through portraits of life in the Federal Republic of the 1970s and 1980s, to an assessment of his literary and political stance following unification. The volume also includes a previously unpublished essay by Piwitt himself, and an interview with the author held during his period as writer-in-residence at the University of Wales, Swansea.

Hans-Ulrich Treichel has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame since the publication of his first novel "Der Verlorene" in 1998. This volume follows the series pattern, aiming to provide an introduction to Hans-Ulrich Treichel and to offer a critical approach to his work.

Uwe Timm is one of the most prominent, prolific and influential writers in contemporary German literature. His work addresses the dominant cultural themes in contemporary Germany, including memory, biography and Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. Books in the "CGW" series originate in visits and lecturers to the Department of German at the University of Wales Swansea by prolific and critically acclaimed German writers. Uwe Timm's first visit to the Centre for Contemporary German Literature in Swansea produced one of the strongest volumes in the "Contemporary German Writers" series, and members of staff in the department have continued fruitful collaboration with the author in a number of areas. Timm continues to enjoy a considerable popular and critical reputation in Germany. Since the first CGW volume appeared, Timm has published a series of critically acclaimed works which justify a new volume, building on the success of the first. The first volume ends with Johannisnacht (1996); the second looks at his work since then and includes: a piece of previously unpublished writing by Timm; an overview, in German, of his career since 1996; an interview with Timm about his career since 1996; separate critical essays on the following: Nicht morgen, nicht gestern (1999, which includes a story set in Swansea); Rot (2001); Am Beispiel meines Bruders (2003); Der Freund und der Fremde (2005); The volume concludes with an updated bibliography.

Born in 1935, Hermann Peter Piwitt falls between the generation of writers who experienced National Socialism as adults and went on to shape the early literary landscape of the Federal Republic, and the generation whose careers were influenced by direct participation in the Student Movement of the late 1960s. Although from the beginning of his career, he combined formal experimentation with an attempt to uncover the social realities that are concealed behind the dominance of capitalism, a growing sense of disillusionment at the absence of any alternative to capitalism and a developing awareness of green issues mark Piwitt's literary development. This volume begins with a previously unpublished essay by Piwitt and an interview held during his visit to the Centre for Contemporary German Literature in Swansea. Subsequent critical essays include an overview of Piwitt's work, an analysis of his attitudes towards the Student Movement, a reinterpretation of his critical essays and of Deutschland. Versuch einer Heimkehr, and an examination of the bleak conclusions he draws at the end of the millennium in Ein unversohnlich sanftes Ende. The volume concludes with a full bibliography.