Maria Beig
Born(1920-10-08)October 8, 1920
DiedSeptember 3, 2018(2018-09-03) (aged 97)
OccupationAuthor
NationalityGerman
Notable awardsAlemannischer Literaturpreis
Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis

Maria Beig (8 October 1920 – 3 September 2018) was a German school teacher and author.

Life and career

Beig was born on 8 October 1920[1] near Lake Constance in the German region of Swabia.[2]

Beig published her first novel, Rabenkrächzen (Raven's Croak) in 1982. It followed the fictional lives of four families from Meckenbeuren.[1] While it was unpopular in her home region of Swabia,[2] it did win the Alemannischer Literaturpreis in 1983.[3]

Her second novel Hochzeitlose (Lost Weddings) was published in 1983[1] and follows four women from Swabia during the World War I and II. It is set out as four novellas, each focusing on a different woman; Babette, Helene, Klara and Martha, and their refusal to marry. It was translated into English by Jaimy Gordon and Peter Blickle.[2]

Her novel, Hermine: An Animal Life, centers around a fictional woman and her interactions with 64 species of animal on her family's farm. It was also translated by Gordon and Blickle.[2]

In 1996, she won the Johann-Friedrich-von-Cotta-Literatur- und Übersetzerpreis der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart award[4] and was awarded with the Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis in 2004.[5]

Her success as a writer was in part aided by the encouraging support she received from the German novelist Martin Walser who directed her to publish with Suhrkamp, a major publisher in Germany. In 2009 she published her autobiography called Ein Lebensweg.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kopitzki, Siegmund (7 September 2018). "Konstanz: Die Stimme Oberschwabens: Zum Tod der Autorin Maria Beig". Südkurier (in German). Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Null, Matthew Neill (16 October 2015). "No Judgment, No Message, No Mercy". The Paris Review. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  3. ↑ "Literaturpreis Gewinner". Alemannischer Literaturpreis (in German). Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  4. ↑ Leckey, Susan (2015). The Europa Directory of Literary Awards and Prizes. Routledge. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-135-35632-3.
  5. ↑ Mürner, Christian (2010). Erfundene Behinderungen: Bibliothek behinderter Figuren (in German). AG SPAK Bücher. p. 169. ISBN 978-3-940865-04-5.
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