WRITER

Ralf Rothmann

1953 - Today

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Ralf Rothmann (born 10 May 1953, in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein) is a German novelist, poet, and dramatist. His novels have been translated into several languages, with Knife Edge (Messers Schneide), Young Light (Junges Licht), Fire Doesn't Burn (Feuer brennt nicht), To Die in Spring (Im Frühling sterben) and The God of that Summer (Der Gott jenes Sommers) being translated into English. The main subjects of his work are the bourgeois and proletarian realities of life in the Ruhr area (e.g., Stier, Wäldernacht, Milch und Kohle and Junges Licht) as well as Berlin (Flieh mein Freund, Hitze, Feuer brennt nicht), with an autobiographically colored focus on alienation, the attempt to escape these situations, and common solitude. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ralf Rothmann has received more than 29,224 page views. His biography is available in 17 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 16 in 2019). Ralf Rothmann is the 6,516th most popular writer (down from 5,969th in 2019), the 5,770th most popular biography from Germany (down from 5,088th in 2019) and the 359th most popular German Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 29k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 40.48

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 17

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 1.86

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.34

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Milch und Kohle
Fiction, romance, general, Germany, fiction
2000
Der Windfisch
1988
Waldernacht
1996
To die in spring
Youth, World War, 1939-1945, Fiction
"The lunacy of the final months of World War II, as experienced by a young German soldier. Distant, silent, often drunk, Walter Urban is a difficult man to have as a father. But his son -- the narrator of this slim, harrowing novel -- is curious about Walter's experiences during World War II, and so makes him a present of a blank notebook in which to write down his memories. Walter dies, however, leaving nothing but the barest skeleton of a story on those pages, leading his son to fill in the gaps himself, rightly or wrongly, with what he can piece together of his father's early life. This, then, is the story of Walter and his dangerously outspoken friend Friedrich Caroli, seventeen-year-old trainee milkers on a dairy farm in northern Germany who are tricked into volunteering for the army during the spring of 1945: the last, and in many ways the worst, months of the war. The men are driven to the point of madness by what they experience, and when Friedrich finally deserts his post, Walter is forced to do the unthinkable. Told in a remarkable impressionistic voice, focusing on the tiny details and moments of grotesque beauty that flower even in the most desperate situations, Ralf Rothmann's To Die in Spring "ushers in the pos -- [Günter] Grass era with enormous power" (Die Zeit)." -- "The lunacy of the final months of World War II, as experienced by a young German soldier"--
2017
Hotel der Schlaflosen
German Short stories
2020
God of That Summer
2022

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Ralf Rothmann ranks 6,516 out of 7,302. Before him are Marian Keyes, Colson Whitehead, Ransom Riggs, Kiera Cass, Sarah Winnemucca, and Sidney Lee. After him are Deborah Ellis, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Charles Stross, Martin Österdahl, John Gribbin, and Laurell K. Hamilton.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1953, Ralf Rothmann ranks 580. Before him are The Honky Tonk Man, Benny Brown, Jeff Kober, Christopher Fairbank, Kay Stenshjemmet, and Joaquim Rafael Branco. After him are Benno Magnusson, Ferenc Kocsis, Yang Jung-mo, Abdelkader Horr, Guido Kratschmer, and Gerhard Thiele.

Others Born in 1953

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Ralf Rothmann ranks 5,770 out of 7,253. Before him are Kim Petras (1992), Marco Pezzaiuoli (1968), Sabine John (1957), Ute Geweniger (1964), Wolfgang Mager (1952), and Marcus Nispel (1963). After him are Jörg Woithe (1963), Andrea Ehrig-Mitscherlich (1960), Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell (1886), Siegbert Horn (1950), Karoline Herfurth (1984), and Katrin Dörre-Heinig (1961).

Others born in Germany

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Among WRITERS In Germany

Among writers born in Germany, Ralf Rothmann ranks 359. Before him are Wolfdietrich Schnurre (1920), Sybille Bedford (1911), Wolf Blitzer (1948), Graciano Rocchigiani (1963), Jenny Erpenbeck (1967), and Denis Johnson (1949). After him are Sibylle Lewitscharoff (1954), Nele Neuhaus (1967), Judith Hermann (1970), Ingo Schulze (1962), Thomas Brussig (1964), and Marius von Mayenburg (1972).

German born Writers

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