The author of himself : |b the life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki : the life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki

Marcel Reich-Ranicki is remarkable for both his unlikely life story and his brilliant career as the "pope of German letters." His sublimely written autobiography is at once a fascinating adventure tale, an unusual account of German-Jewish relations, a personal rumination on who's who in German culture, and a love letter to literature. Reich-Ranicki's life took him from middle-class childhood to wartime misery to the heights of intellectual celebrity. Born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1920, he moved to Berlin as a boy. There he discovered his passion for literature and began a complex affair with German culture. In 1938, his family was deported back to Poland, where German occupation forced him into the Warsaw Ghetto. As a member of the Jewish resistance, a translator for the Jewish Council, and a man who personally experienced the ghetto's inhumane conditions, Reich-Ranicki gained both a bird's-eye and ground-level view of Nazi barbarism. Written with subtlety and intelligence, his account of this episode is among the most compelling and dramatic ever recorded. He escaped with his wife and spent two years hiding in the cellar of Polish peasants—an incident later immortalized by Günter Grass. After liberation, he joined and then fell out with the Communist Party and was temporarily imprisoned. He began writing and soon became Poland's foremost critical commentator on German literature. When Reich-Ranicki returned to Germany in 1958, his rise was meteoric. In short order, he claimed national celebrity and notoriety as the head of the literary section of the leading newspaper and host of his own television program. He frequently flabbergasted viewers with his bold pronouncements and flexed his power to make or break a writer's career. His list of friends and enemies rapidly expanded to include every influential player on the German literary scene, including Grass and Heinrich Böll. This, together with his keen critical instincts, makes his memoir an indispensable guide to contemporary German culture as well as an absorbing eyewitness history of some of the twentieth century's most important events. Marcel Reich-ranicki Was Born Of Polish Jewish Parents In The Polish Town Of Wloclawek In 1920. At The Age Of Nine He Moved To Berlin And It Was At School There That He Discovered His Deep Passion For Literature And The Theatre. But In 1938, He Was Deported Back To Poland, Where He Spent The War. Written With Subtlety, Intelligence And Lucidity, Reich-ranicki's Account Of The Warsaw Ghetto And The Relations Between Poles And Jews, Poles And Germans, Poles And Poles Is One Of The Most Compelling And Dramatic Ever Recorded. As Well As Being A Related Narrative Of A Remarkable And Unusual Life, This Book Is Also A Love Letter To Literature And The Theatre, Especially The Work Of Shakespeare. It Is Also An Indispensable Guide To Twentieth-century German Culture. Reich-ranicki Has Known All The Eminent Post-war German Writers And Has Written About Most Of Them - Often Sharply Criticizing Their Work, But Just As Frequently Praising It.--book Jacket. 'what Are You Really?' -- 'half Dragged, Half Plunging, So He Sank ... ' -- Herr Kastner: 'to Be Applied To The Soul' -- Reverence For Writ -- Racial Theory -- Several Love Affairs At The Same Time -- My Most Wonderful Refuge--the Theatre -- A Suffering Which Brings Happiness -- The Door To The Next Room -- With Invisible Luggage -- Poetry And The War -- Hunting Down Jews Is Fun -- The Dead Man And His Daughter -- From Quarantine District To Ghetto -- The Words Of A Fool -- 'if Music Be The Food Of Love ... ' -- Death Sentences To The Accompaniment Of Viennese Waltzes -- An Intellectual, A Martyr, A Hero -- A Brand-new Riding Crop -- Order, Hygiene, Discipline -- Stories For Bolek -- My First Shot, My Last Shot -- From Reich To Ranicki -- Brecht, Seghers, Huchel And Others -- Josef K., Stalin Quotations And Heinrich Boll -- A Study Trip With Consequences -- A Young Man With A Massive Moustache -- Recognized As Germans -- Group 47 And Its First Lady -- Walter Jens, Or The Friendship -- Literature As Awareness Of Life -- Canetti, Adorno, Bernhard And Others -- A Tavern And A Calculating Machine -- The Sinister Guest Of Honour -- Make Way For Poetry! -- A Genius Only During Working Hours -- The Magician's Family -- Max Frisch -- Yehudi Menuhin And Our Quartet -- Joachim Fest And Martin Walser -- ''tis A Dream ... ' -- Thanksgiving. Marcel Reich-ranicki ; Translated From The German By Ewald Osers. ; With A Foreword By Jack Zipes. Includes Index. "Marcel Reich-Ranicki was born of Polish Jewish parents in the Polish town of Wloclawek in 1920. At the age of nine he moved to Berlin and it was at school there that he discovered his deep passion for literature and the theatre. But in 1938, he was deported back to Poland, where he spent the war. Written with subtlety, intelligence and lucidity, Reich-Ranicki's account of the Warsaw Ghetto and the relations between Poles and Jews, Poles and Germans, Poles and Poles is one of the most compelling and dramatic ever recorded.". "As well as being a related narrative of a remarkable and unusual life, this book is also a love letter to literature and the theatre, especially the work of Shakespeare. It is also an indispensable guide to twentieth-century German culture. Reich-Ranicki has known all the eminent post-war German writers and has written about most of them - often sharply criticising their work, but just as frequently praising it."--BOOK JACKET.