Uwe Timm: Difference between revisions

| image = Uwe Timm, Frankfurter Buchmesse 20132023 1Ausschnitt.jpg

| caption = Timm (20132023)

| alma_mater = [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]]

| children = four, each of them is dedicated with one novel4

}}'''Uwe Timm''' ({{IPA|de|ˈuːvə tɪm|-|De-Uwe Timm.ogg}}; born 30 March 1940 in [[Hamburg]]) is a German writer.

Uwe Timm was born in 1940 in Hamburg, and was the youngest son in his family. His brother, 16 years his senior, was a soldier in the {{lang|de|[[Waffen -SS]]}} and died in Ukraine in 1943. Decades later, Uwe Timm approacheddealt with his relationship with his father and brother in the critically acclaimed novel ''In myMy brotherBrother's shadowShadow''.

After working as a furrier, Timm studied Philosophy and German in [[Munich]] and Paris, achieving a PhD in German literature in 1971 with his thesis: ''The Problem of Absurdity in the Works of [[Albert Camus]]''. During his studies, Timm was engaged in leftist activities of the 1960s. He became a member of the [[Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund|Socialist German Student Union]] and was associated with [[Benno Ohnesorg]]. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of the [[German Communist Party]]. Three times Timm haswas been called as aappointed writer-in-residence to severalat universities in English-speaking countries: in 1981 toat the [[University of Warwick]], in 1994 toat [[Swansea]], and in 1997 to theat [[Washington University in St. Louis]]. He has also been a lecturer at universities in Paderborn, Darmstadt, Lüneburg, and Frankfurt.

Timm started publishing in the early 1970s and became known to a larger audience in Germany after one of his children's books, ''Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel'', was turned into athe movie ''{{ill|Rudy, the Racing Pig|de|Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel (Film)}}'' (1995). Today he is one of the most successful contemporary authors in Germany. His books ''Die Entdeckung der Currywurst ([[The Invention of Curried Sausage]])'' and ''Am BeispielsBeispiel meines Bruders (In myMy brotherBrother's shadowShadow, or literally: "By myMy Brother's Example")'' can both be found onin the syllabi of German schools. His readers usually appreciate Timm's writing style, which he himself calls "''die Ästhetik des Alltags''" ("the aesthetics of everyday life").<ref>''Erzählen und kein Ende'', A collection of speeches (1993)</ref> Timm imitates everyday storytelling by usinguses everyday vocabulary and simple sentences and generally tries to imitate the way stories are orally told. His works often indirectly linkconnect with each other by taking upa minor characterscharacter from one story and making this character the main character of another work. For example, a minor character like Frau Brücker from ''Johannisnacht'' is taken up asbecomes a main character in his book ''Die Entdeckung der Currywurst''. Timm's works also tend to have autobiographical features and often deal with the German past, or are set in, the German past.<ref>Hanjo Kersting, Axel Ruckaberle: "Uwe Timm", ''Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur (KLG)'', Köln 2004.</ref>

*''Der Mann auf dem Hochrad'', Children's book (1984)

* Hanjo Kersting, Axel Ruckaberle: "Uwe Timm", ''Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur'' (KLG)'', Köln 2004.