bavarikon4UDescription
The author Heinz Piontek (1925-2003), born in Upper Silesia but later resident in Munich received several awards over the course of his career. His work included nearly all literary genres and not only influenced German post-war literature. Nonetheless, he was also successful as a translator and editor of lyrical and prose anthologies as well as of his own series ("Münchner Edition"). His poems were translated into 24 languages and were included in collections of teaching material as well as in foreign anthologies. On 22 October 1976, the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (German Academy for Language and Poetry) conferred in Darmstadt the deed of the Georg-Büchner-Preis presented here to the poet. The Büchner-Preis is to this day the most renowned literary award bestowed within the German-speaking territories in Europe. The author Eberhard Horst (1924-2012) underlined in his eulogy that "Our award is in particular meant for the poet Heinz Piontek", since he managed "to lighten even the provocative with linguistic relaxation and mirth." The press (which was rather socio-politically oriented) at least in part fiercely criticised the jury's decision in favour of Piontek. Piontek himself responded by defending the Büchner-Preis against "revolutionary compliance" and in favour of "a literary œuvre of rank." Datum: 2017
Author
Peter Czoik