Stephan Hermlin

Wolfgang Ertl (University of Iowa)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 13 Apr 1915
Died 6 Apr 1997
Activity 1945-1997

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany; France; Switzerland

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Poet
Story-writer
Translator

Resources

Hermlin's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Stephan Hermlin is one of the important writers who, after returning from exile in 1945, hoped to take part in the efforts to reconstruct and shape the new Germany. Antifascist resistance is at the root of all his creative endeavors, which span a wide variety of genres from lyric poetry, short prose, translations, and a radio play to reports, speeches, and literary essays. Hermlin’s public persona and his literary work in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) have incurred enthusiastic admiration as well as harsh criticism. He struggled throughout his career to combine an almost religious loyalty to the workers’ movement and the communist party, courageous critical stance against the repressive cultural policy of the Socialist Unity Party (SED), and an independent aesthetic credo,…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2475 words

Citation: Ertl, Wolfgang. "Stephan Hermlin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11703, accessed 21 November 2024.]