The writer Friedrich Christian Delius is dead. The author and member of the legendary Group 47 died on Monday at the age of 79 in Berlin, according to the Rowohlt publishers. Delius was born on February 13, 1943 in Rome, where his father was a pastor of the German Evangelical Church. At 18 he published his first poems. At the age of 21 he joined Group 47.
Delius’ novels and stories, translated into more than 20 languages, reflect German history and the history of mentality: “The Sunday on which I became world champion”, for example, is linked to the key year 1954 and the “Miracle of Bern”, “Amerikahaus and the dance around the women” to the spirit of optimism that was felt before the ideological hardening at the end of the 1960s, the German Autumn Trilogy to the terror of the RAF, “The Walk from Rostock to Syracuse” to the experience of the Germans Division, “The Pears of Ribbeck” to the German reunification.
Delius is one of the most important authors of contemporary German literature. Rowohlt emphasized that he had published more than thirty-five books, which combined into one work – “a work of great consistency, great clarity and power. At the same time, he – narrator, player, poet – always captivated with his versatility and the musicality of his prose.”
