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Günter Kunert Germany    PWF 2008

Günter Kunert has been one of the most distinguished poets and prose writers in German literature for the past fifty years. Born in 1929 in Berlin, Kunert lived in East Berlin, where he befriended Bertolt Brecht and later protested the expulsion of poet-songwriter Wolf Biermann—which led to his own departure to West Germany in 1979.

“The promises of governments come to nothing even before the postman can push them through the slot.”

Günter Kunert´s critical attitude attends multifarious literary forms—from lyric poetry, film scripts, science fiction to aphorisms—and adorns his paintings and drawings.

Kunert’s numerous works include: Unwelcome Guest, On the Way to Utopia, Delayed Monologues, Windy Times, The Way Out is Open, As the Hotel Room Said to the Guest, and most recently The Old Man.

“The Old Man asks God: How may I be
young again? God ponders long
before he replies: You
must metamorphose.
The old Man’s hopes are raised:
How so?
Die and become,
a maggot to begin with—after that
we’ll take it from there.”

Günter Kunert lives in Kaisborstel, Germany.