June 2002 - Nr. 6
Land of Dichter und Denker? Creative Writing Hits Germany
TWIG - For young poets dreaming of literary fame, advice comes cheap in the United States, where writing courses are a dime a dozen and bookstores are jammed with self-help books on composing everything from memoirs to screenplays. By contrast, aspiring writers in Germany have long had no one to turn to but their own muse. Germany still bears the marks of the 19th-century cult of genius, in which literature was thought of as the product of poetic inspiration, not a craft that can be learned, explains Berlin writing instructor Lutz von Werder. "Writing is still considered an enclave for the elite in Germany," he says, and the literary scene has suffered for it. To treat the art of writing more democratically, von Werder started his own creative writing institute in 1990, and slowly but surely, the idea seems to be catching on.
According to a recent study by the Alice-Salomon Fachhochschule, creative writing is gradually making is way into German universities, with courses taught at Hildesheim, Leipzig and Tuebingen. But the place where the discipline is really taking off is at centers for continuing education, known in Germany as Volkshochschulen. Twenty years ago creative writing courses for adults were few and far between; now some 40,000 people are learning to write poetry, fiction and drama at more than 2,000 literary workshops nationwide.
Reinhard Wittmann, director of the Munich House of Literature, sees all this writing as a positive thing. "People who write also read," he observes. Wittmann pioneered some of the country’s first workshops for young writers in the 1980s, using funds provided by the Bertelsmann Foundation. "I had the impression that authors would be helped less by an excess of grants and prizes than by some guidance," he explains. Today his programs are heavily attended by high school and university students, as well as professional writers. A five-day seminar called "textwerk," led by established authors such as Hans Magnus Enzenberger and Uwe Timm, has helped launch the career of more than one emerging writer.
The creative writing boom is visible at newsstands as well. The year 2000 marked the debut of Textart, Germany’s first magazine for new writers. "We want to show exactly how authors work," says Oliver Buslau, the quarterly’s editor-in-chief. The journal includes a column by U.S. author James N. Frey (How to Write a Damn Good Novel) as well as tips for writing everything from entertaining postcards to effective ad copy.
"The idea that artists are not made but born is slowly receding," says Frauke Meyer-Gosau of the German Literature Foundation in Darmstadt. Once focused on granting stipends to major literary stars, this institution now offers workshops for fledgling writers as well. Hanns-Josef Ortheil, who teaches creative writing at the University of Hildesheim, hopes the trend will spread even further. "Creative writing must become part of a general course of studies and be incorporated into the public school curriculum," says Ortheil. Only then, he suggests, will Germany break free from its august but burdensome literary past and create something new.
