German playwright and filmmaker, he was born in Sonneberg. He is a prolific writer who won numerous awards such as the European prize of literature in 2009. When he was 17, he was enlisted in the army and taken prisoner by the British. His captivity last 3 years. When is was free, he graduated in german literature, history of art and theatre. In 1953, he founded a puppets show company with the composer Wilhelm Killmayer and started writing but he couldn’t manage to earn his living. He worked for the radio and publishing houses. In the 60’s, his made his first plays. Inspired by the theatre of the absurd of Ionesco, Beckett and Giraudoux, he wrote many texts that were put on in Germany. His main work, translated in many languages and published at the end of the 70’s is called Merlin or the devasted land. It’s a masterpiece that deals with the failure of utopias. In 1978, he directed the movie adaptation of his novel Klaras Mutter. Franch speaking, he also translated texts by Diderot or Molière. He was called the XXth Goethe. His complete works were published by Suhrkamp.
