Nossack, Hans Erich (1901–1977)

German writer. His sober ‘reports’, set in a mixture of the real and mythically surreal world, analyse the morally debilitating features of a contemporary German society with which he is totally disillusioned. His works include Nekyia: Bericht eines Überlebenden/Nekyia: A Survivor's Report 1947, Interview mit dem Tode/Interview with Death 1948 (retitled Dorothea 1950), Spätestens im November/Not until November 1955, Spirale: Romanen einer Schlaflosen Nacht/Spiral: Novel of a Sleepless Night 1956, Der jüngere Bruder/The Younger Brother 1958, and Nach dem letzten Aufstand: Ein Bericht/After the Last Revolution: A Report 1961. His standpoint is given quintessentially in Ein glücklicher Mensch/A Fortunate Person 1975.

Nekyia is a brilliant account of individual survival after a holocaust, while Interview mit dem Tode is a masterly collection of satirical short stories containing in embryo the themes worked out at length in his novels, mainly the problem of survival and integrity. Spätestens im November recounts the attempt to transcend self-limitation, to break with convention even if it means death. Spirale, Der jüngere Bruder, and Nach dem letzten Aufstand all subtly vary the same idea: to seek meaning in a hostile world, and escape from a ‘self’ imposed by society. This often involves crossing physical and metaphysical boundaries into the unknown as the only possible way to start afresh, as illustrated in Das kennt man/This is Known 1964, Der Fall d'Arthez/The d'Arthez Case 1968, and Die gestohlene Melodie/The Stole Melody 1972. Important essays are Pseudoautobiographische Glossen 1971.