Irmgard Keun
Irmgard Keun was a notable German novelist born in Berlin in 1905, recognized for her contributions to literature during a tumultuous period in Germany's history. She began her career in writing after a brief stint in drama school and theater, eventually marrying novelist Johannes Tralow in 1932. However, her literary works faced significant challenges when the Nazis banned her novels following Adolf Hitler's rise to power. This led Keun to leave Germany for several years, primarily living in Belgium, where she connected with other exiled German writers such as Joseph Roth.
Despite returning to Germany during World War II under a false identity, her ability to write was severely impacted. After the war, although she produced several works, she struggled to regain the prominence she had achieved earlier in her career. Keun's first novel, *Gilgi, eine von uns*, and her second, *Das kunstseidene Mädchen*, both explored themes of female independence within the constraints of society, reflecting her own experiences as a woman navigating the challenges of her time. Her later works continued to critique the social conditions of the era. Although she ceased writing around 1960, her legacy experienced a revival in the 1970s with the reissue of her books. Keun passed away in 1982, leaving behind a significant body of work that continues to resonate with readers today.
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Irmgard Keun
Writer
- Born: February 6, 1905
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Died: May 5, 1982
- Place of death: Köln, Germany
Biography
Irmgard Keun was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1905, the daughter of Eduard Keun, the director of a small oil refinery in Cologne, Germany, and Elisa Haese, a typical German hausfrau. Her father encouraged her independence. She briefly attended drama school and worked in the theater before she took a job as a stenographer in her father’s office. She married Johannes Tralow, a novelist and director, in 1932.
After Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, Keun’s novels were placed on the Nazis’ list of banned books. She decided to leave Germany, although her husband opted to stay. She spent a number of years in exile, primarily living in Belgium, where she met other German refugees. One of them was Joseph Roth, an Austrian novelist, with whom she lived for several years, eking out a living by writing. She was divorced from Tralow in 1937, and she chose to leave Roth soon after. At the outbreak of World War II, Keun returned to Germany under a false identity but was unable to write.
After the war, she wrote several novels and shorter pieces, but she never regained the popularity she had attained with her earlier novels. She stopped writing about 1960, although she ironically received renewed fame in the 1970’s, when some of her books were reissued. She lived in Cologne with her parents and became a single parent. In 1981, she was awarded the first Marieluise Fleisser Prize from the City of Igolstandt. She died in 1982.
Several of Keun’s novels were translated into English and other languages. Her first novel, Gilgi, eine von uns, was an immediate success when it appeared in 1931. Semiautobiographical, it tells of Gilgi, an emancipated young woman in the Depression era who uses her self-discipline and drive to gain independence, only to find herself pregnant by a much older and rather ineffective man. Unable to obtain an abortion, she strikes out for Berlin as a single parent. Keun wrote in the New Objectivity literary style of the late 1920’s, and she does not present an overly sympathetic portrait of her title character.
Keun’s second novel, Das kunstseidene Mädchen (1932; The Artifical Silk Girl, 1933), is the story of Doris, a young woman obsessed by motion pictures. Their artificiality symbolizes the artificiality of German bourgeois society. The novel finishes in an open-ended way, leaving Doris a social outcast. Both Keun’s first and second novels were banned by the Nazis, who branded them decadent.
Keun’s next novel is set at the end of World War I. Das Mädchen, mit dem die Kinder nicht verkehren durften (1936; The Bad Example, 1955) was published in Holland in 1936 and became very popular in post-World War II Germany because it depicted social conditions after a world war. The young heroine is again a spirited, independent girl. The rest of Keun’s writing reflects her own experiences in exile or in prewar Nazi Germany and the failure of the bourgeoisie, as exemplified by Nach Mitternacht (1937; After Midnight, 1938); D-Zug dritter Klasse, and her last novel, Ferdinand, der Mann mit dem freundlichen Herzen.