German author Fritz Rudolf Fries has passed away.
Born in Spain, he came to Germany as a young child and he grew up and remained in East Germany. His first novel, The Road to Oobliadooh, was unpublishable in the East (right until the last minute -- it finally appeared there in 1989), but he published it with West German Suhrkamp, in 1966; an English translation came out in 1968 (from McGraw-Hill -- and getting not just The New York Times Book Review coverage, but even a review in Time; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk). That was the only one of his books to appear in English -- though his last novel bears the title: Last Exit to El Paso; see the Wallstein publicity page, and click on 'Englisch' for an English description.)
A translator, too, he was the German translator of Cortázar's Hopscotch, among other significant works.
Last Exit to El Paso was probably his best since his debut -- and featuring a Benno von Arcimboldi (yes, borrowed from 2666), along with a Verneian Pierre Arronax, and given its American setting this is something that surely even a US audience would be intrigued by -- I hope it gets a second look from the editors who passed on it first time around.
(Fries was the only East German author to voluntarily step forward -- as opposed to being 'outed' -- and reveal he had been a Stasi-informer, in 1996; it was news which did not go over well.)
Born in Spain, he came to Germany as a young child and he grew up and remained in East Germany. His first novel, The Road to Oobliadooh, was unpublishable in the East (right until the last minute -- it finally appeared there in 1989), but he published it with West German Suhrkamp, in 1966; an English translation came out in 1968 (from McGraw-Hill -- and getting not just The New York Times Book Review coverage, but even a review in Time; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk). That was the only one of his books to appear in English -- though his last novel bears the title: Last Exit to El Paso; see the Wallstein publicity page, and click on 'Englisch' for an English description.)
A translator, too, he was the German translator of Cortázar's Hopscotch, among other significant works.
Last Exit to El Paso was probably his best since his debut -- and featuring a Benno von Arcimboldi (yes, borrowed from 2666), along with a Verneian Pierre Arronax, and given its American setting this is something that surely even a US audience would be intrigued by -- I hope it gets a second look from the editors who passed on it first time around.
(Fries was the only East German author to voluntarily step forward -- as opposed to being 'outed' -- and reveal he had been a Stasi-informer, in 1996; it was news which did not go over well.)