Carl Amery facts for kids

Carl Amery (born April 9, 1922 – died May 24, 2005) was a German writer and environmental activist. His real name was Christian Anton Mayer, but he used "Carl Amery" as his pen name. He was born in Munich, Germany, and studied at the University of Munich. He was also part of a famous German writers' group called Gruppe 47. Carl Amery passed away in Munich.

He won the Deutscher Fantasy Preis in 1996 for his fantasy writing.

About His Life

Carl Amery was the son of an art historian named Anton Mayer-Pfannholz. When he was a child, he mostly lived in the cities of Passau and Freising. He went to high school in both cities. These places were very important to him and appeared in his books. For example, Passau is featured in his novels Der Wettbewerb and Der Untergang der Stadt Passau. Freising appears in his book Das Geheimnis der Krypta.

He studied Philology (the study of language and literature) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and at the Catholic University of America.

In 1941, he joined the army. In 1943, he became a prisoner of war during a war campaign in Tunisia. He returned to Munich in 1946 and continued his studies in language and literature. He started writing short stories under the name Chris Mayer. Later, he chose the name Carl Amery, which is an anagram (a word or phrase made by rearranging the letters of another) of Mayer.

Carl Amery died on May 24, 2005, from a lung disease called emphysema. He was buried in Munich.

His Work and Ideas

Carl Amery's first novel, Der Wettbewerb, was published in 1954. In 1958, he became known as a satirist (someone who uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize people or ideas) with his novel Die große Deutschlandtour.

Later, his books Die Kapitulation oder Deutscher Katholizismus heute (1963) and Das Ende der Vorsehung. Die gnadenlosen Folgen des Christentums (1972) showed another side of his writing. He believed that some Christian ideas had led to the destruction of the environment. This made him an important thinker in political ecology, which connects politics with environmental issues. He wrote more books, like Die ökologische Chance, and actively worked for environmental protection. He was an early member of the Alliance 90/The Greens party, which focuses on environmental issues. In 1980, he also started an independent society named after E. F. Schumacher, who was a famous economist and environmental thinker.

From 1967 to 1971, he was the director of the Munich Municipal Library.

In 1974, Carl Amery started writing science fiction and fantasy novels. This was an unusual step for a writer known for serious literature. He was especially influenced by the writer G. K. Chesterton. His science fiction novels include Das Königsprojekt (1974), Der Untergang der Stadt Passau (1975), and An den Feuern der Leyermark (1979). A scholar named Axel Goodbody said that Der Untergang der Stadt Passau cleverly uses science fiction to talk about environmental problems.

He also wrote two fantasy novels that explored Bavarian spirituality: Die Wallfahrer (1986) and Das Geheimnis der Krypta (1990). These books were more complex and used many references to other texts and ideas. Goodbody noted that Amery's fun use of time travel, mixing fiction with history, and unique way of using metaphors and quotes hid a very serious message. In Das Geheimnis der Krypta, as in some of his other works, Amery explored how small changes in history could completely change the future.

He won the Deutscher Fantasy Preis again in 1996.

From 1985 onwards, his collected works were published. In 2001, Carl Amery said in an interview that he would not publish any more novels because of his health.

Novels and Short Stories

Essays

Sources

See also

In Spanish: Carl Amery para niños