Siegfried Lenz, together with Heinrich Böll (1917-85 ), Günter Grass (b. 1927) and a group of other German-speaking writers, attained international acclaim as a novelist in the 1960s and beyond. Not unlike some of his fellow authors, Lenz’ novels often focus on life in Germany during National Socialism, the events of World War II, the entanglement of individual lives in the greater historical events, on guilt and collective memory. With the generation of his fellow-writers he shares an acute awareness of the growing pains of the West German state, problems of democratization, and social inequities. His novels are eminently approachable and often present complex characters within settings and conflicts identifiable by a wide readership. Lenz’ books have been translated into many…

2124 words

Citation: Schweissinger, Marc J.. "Siegfried Lenz". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11697, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11697 Siegfried Lenz 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.