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Imre Kertész

Hungarian author (1929-2016) · Germany · Writers · Died at 86

Imre Kertész is read about 322 times a day, in 90 languages.

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He survived the German camps as a teenager and spent decades after rendering that experience into fiction - the individual self crushed under history's machinery, written in prose so precise it won him the Nobel in 2002.

WritersWriter / AuthorLiteratureFictionJournalismScreenwritingTheatre20th Century

A life in dates

2016Died31 March 20162014Hungarian Order of Saint StephenAward2007Marion Samuel PrizeAward2006Ernst Reuter MedalAward2005Honorary doctor of the Free University of BerlinAward2004Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of GermanyAward2003Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of HungaryAward2002Honorary Citizen of BudapestAward2001Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts orderAward2000Herder PrizeAward1997Jeanette Schocken PrizeAwardKossuth PrizeAward1996Márai Sándor PrizeAward1995Literaturpreis des Landes BrandenburgAward1990“If one takes the path of success, then one ends up either successful or unsuccessful, there is no third alternative.”In their wordsKaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999)

“I am still here, although I don’t know why; accidentally, I guess, as I was born; I am as much or as little accomplice to my staying alive as I was to my birth.”In their wordsKaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999)

“I stayed alive therefore I am.”In their wordsKaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999)

“At any rate I found myself writing because I had to write, although I didn’t know why.”In their wordsKaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999)

“Auschwitz cannot be explained." And yet, it doesn’t take a Wittgenstein to notice that the sentence is faulty even from the point of pure linguistic logic”In their wordsKaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999)

“Failure alone remains as the one single accomplishable experience”In their wordsKaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999)

1983Füst Milán PrizeAward1929Born9 November 1929

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Oliver Mark - Imre Kertész, Berlin 2005Oliver Mark - Imre Kertész, Berlin 2005Berliner Gedenktafel Meinekestr 3 (Charl) Imre KertészBerliner Gedenktafel Meinekestr 3 (Charl) Imre KertészElie Wiesel, EgerElie Wiesel, EgerEsterházy Péter - Kertész ImreEsterházy Péter - Kertész ImreFM-2019-1-6-2-30 Niggl-Radloff-B-Imre-Kertesz-ONLINEFM-2019-1-6-2-30 Niggl-Radloff-B-Imre-Kertesz-ONLINEGedenktafel Markt 19 (Weimar) Imre KerteszGedenktafel Markt 19 (Weimar) Imre KerteszGriesbachsches Gartenhaus in JenaGriesbachsches Gartenhaus in JenaImre Kertész (1929-) Hungarian writer by Csaba SegesváriImre Kertész (1929-) Hungarian writer by Csaba Segesvári

In their own words 10

,
Imre Kertész
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. If one takes the path of success, then one ends up either successful or unsuccessful, there is no third alternative.

    1990, Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999), Own words

  2. I do what I have to do, although I don’t know why I have to.

    1990, Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999), Own words

  3. I am still here, although I don’t know why; accidentally, I guess, as I was born; I am as much or as little accomplice to my staying alive as I was to my birth.

    1990, Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért as translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson (1999), Own words

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Awards

Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen2014
Jean Améry award2009
Marion Samuel Prize2007
Ernst Reuter Medal2006
Honorary doctor of the Free University of Berlin2005
Honorary Doctor of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University2005
Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany2004
Goethe Medal2004
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary2003
Nobel Prize in Literature2002
Honorary Citizen of Budapest2002
Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order2001
Adelbert von Chamisso Prize (complimentary gift)2001
Herder Prize2000
Kossuth Prize1997
Friedrich Gundolf Prize1997
Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding1997
Jeanette Schocken Prize1997
Márai Sándor Prize1996
Literaturpreis des Landes Brandenburg1995
Déry Tibor Prize1989
Füst Milán Prize1983
Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary

In their orbit 2

About this person

Born in Budapest on 9 November 1929, Kertész was deported to German concentration and death camps during the war while still in his teens. He returned and lived under Hungary's dictatorship, working quietly for years on fiction that turned survival into a formal problem: how to hold the fragile human experience against history's barbaric arbitrariness. That work eventually earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002, making him the first Hungarian so honored. He continued exploring themes of the Holocaust, dictatorship, and personal freedom until his death on 31 March 2016.

Country
Germany
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1929 to 2016 · aged 86

In common with Imre

Lajos KoltaiAlso in Fateless (2005)Piroska MolnárAlso in Fateless (2005)Ádám RajhonaAlso in Fateless (2005)László KrasznahorkaiBoth received Márai Sándor PrizeHanna KrallBoth received Jeanette Schocken PrizeAdam ZagajewskiBoth received Jean Améry award

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