Klaus Hoffer takes over Brothers Grimm Poetics Professorship at the University of Kassel

The author became known for texts such as the two-part novel "Bei den Bieresch" (1979/83), the story "Am Magnetberg" (1982) and novel fragments, concrete-poetic as well as intertextually charged prose texts and essays. Hoffer was a member of the so-called "Graz Group," a loose association of writers based in Graz that included other well-known writers such as Peter Handke.

"Klaus Hoffer is an excellent choice for the professorship," says Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kreuzer of the Institute for German Studies at the University of Kassel. "He is a great writer who is admired by other authors, even though - as Urs Widmer once pointed out - he has 'editions like Kafka when he was still riding his motorcycle and laughing,'" judges the literature and media scholar, who herself earned her doctorate with a thesis on Klaus Hoffer's work in the context of fantasy and postmodernism.

The Styrian studied German and English language and literature with some excursions into art history and classical philology in Graz. He then earned his doctorate with a thesis on Kafka. "Hoffer is a true poeta doctus, a learned poet," Kreuzer says. "His fictional texts are narratively complex in structure and often densely interwoven intertextually. At the same time, he also knows how to engage poetically with texts by other authors in a concise way."

Hoffer has served as a lecturer at numerous universities in and outside Europe, such as in the United States and Senegal. He has been awarded several prizes for his literary texts, including the Alfred Döblin Prize, the manuskripte Prize and the Rauriser Literature Prize. As a translator, Hoffer has also translated several classics of English-language literature - such as those by Joseph Conrad, Raymond Carver and Kurt Vonnegut - into German.

Hoffer will give a public inaugural lecture on a topic of his own choosing. The following day, he will also lead a university-public seminar for students at the University of Kassel and give a public reading.

Exceptionally, the events will take place as part of the Grimm Poetics Professorship in the winter semester 2018/19.

The Brothers Grimm Poetics Professorship has been awarded annually at the University of Kassel since 1985 and is supported by the Kasseler Sparkasse. With the Poetics Professorship, the university has already honored significant literary figures as well as artists in the fields of dramaturgy and directing. Among the holders of the professorship are literary greats such as Juli Zeh, Rafik Schami and Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller. The Brothers Grimm Poetics Professorship is not to be confused with the Brothers Grimm Endowed Professorship at the University of Kassel, which focuses on the lives and works of the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kreuzer
University of Kassel
FG Modern German Literature / Media Studies
Tel.: +49 561 804 3319
E-mail: stefanie.kreuzer@uni-kassel.de