Fried, Erich

Fried, Erich, b. Vienna, May 6, 1921, d. Baden-Baden (Germany), Nov. 22, 1988; poet, narrative writer, essayist, translator; son of a Jewish forwarding agent who was murdered by the Gestapo, the secret state police of the Nazi regime. F. emigrated to London in 1938, where he worked as a political commentator for the BBC from 1952-1968. Until 1944 he actively participated in communist organizations in exile. Was a member of the "Group 47" (Gruppe 47) from 1963. The basic subjects taken up in his poems are the loss of one's native country and the feeling of being away from home ("100 Gedichte ohne Vaterland", 1978). While his uncompromising political poetry ("und Vietnam und", 1966; "Höre, Israel!", 1974) and his public comments on certain issues ("Spiegelaffäre", 1972, a work in which he criticized the way in which the members of the Bader-Meinhof Group were "hunted") aroused heated controversy, his poems about love, "Liebesgedichte" (1979), won wide recognition. Awarded the Austrian State Prize in 1986, the Georg Büchner Prize in 1987.

Further works: Poetry Warngedichte, 1964; Überlegungen, 1965; Anfechtungen, 1967; Unter Nebenfeinden, 1970; Die Freiheit den Mund aufzumachen, 1972; So kam ich unter die Deutschen, 1977; Es ist was es ist, 1983; Reich der Steine, 1984; Frühe Gedichte, 1986; Vorübungen für ein Wunder, 1987; Unverwunden, 1988. Prose: Ein Soldat und ein Mädchen, 1960 (novel); Das Unmaß aller Dinge, 1982 (narratives); Mitunter sogar Lachen, 1986 (autobiography); Nicht verdrängen nicht gewöhnen. Texte zum Thema Ö., ed. by M. Lewin, 1987; Gedanken in und an Deutschland, ed. by. M. Lewin, 1988. - Translations (W. Shakespeare's dramas). - Edition: Gesammelte Werke, 1998, ed. by V. Kaukoreit, 4 vols., 1993.

Literature: E. F., Text und Kritik, 1986; S. W. Lawrie, E. F. A Writer without a Country, 1995; C. Jessen, E. F., eine Chronik. Leben und Werk, 1998; G. Lampe, E. F. Biographie und Werk eines "dt. Dichters", ²1998; C. Dressler, "Nach dem Landlos greift der Landlosen Hand", 1998.