Peter Weiss

Peter Weiss
Peter Weiss
	Weiss speaking during the acceptance ceremony for the Bremen Literature Prize, 1982
Born	Peter Ulrich Weiss; 8 November 1916; Nowawes, Brandenburg, Germany
Died	10 May 1982 (aged 65); Stockholm, Sweden
Citizenship	Swedish
Alma mater	Polytechnic School of Photography; Academy of Fine Arts, Prague
Works	Marat/Sade; The Aesthetics of Resistance
Movement	Avant-garde
Spouses	Helga Henschen (1943); Carlota Dethorey (1949); Gunilla Palmstierna (1964);
Awards	Charles Veillon Award (1963); Lessing Prize (1965); Heinrich Mann Prize (1966); Tony Award for Best Play (Marat/Sade, 1966); Carl Albert Anderson Prize (1967); Thomas Dehler Prize (1978); Cologne Literature Prize (1981); Bremen Literature Prize (1982); De Nios Prize (1982); Swedish Theatre Critics Prize (1982); Georg Büchner Prize (1982);

Peter Ulrich Weiss (8 November 1916 – 10 May 1982) was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance.

Peter Weiss earned his reputation in the post-war German literary world as the proponent of an avant-garde, meticulously descriptive writing, as an exponent of autobiographical prose, and also as a politically engaged dramatist. He gained international success with Marat/Sade, the American production of which was awarded a Tony Award and its subsequent film adaptation directed by Peter Brook. His "Auschwitz Oratorium," The Investigation, served to broaden the debates over the so-called "Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit" (or formerly) "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" or "politics of history." Weiss's magnum opus was The Aesthetics of Resistance, called one of the "most important German-language work[s] of the 70s and 80s."^[1] His early, surrealist-inspired work as a painter and experimental filmmaker remains less well known.

^ Klaus Beutin, Klaus Ehlert, Wolfgang Emmerich, Helmut Hoffacker, Bernd Lutz, Volker Meid, Ralf Schnell, Peter Stein und Inge Stephan: Deutsche Literaturgeschichte. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. 5., überarbeitete Auflage. Stuttgart-Weimar: Metzler 1994, S. 595.

[1] Klaus Beutin, Klaus Ehlert, Wolfgang Emmerich, Helmut Hoffacker, Bernd Lutz, Volker Meid, Ralf Schnell, Peter Stein und Inge Stephan: Deutsche Literaturgeschichte. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. 5., überarbeitete Auflage. Stuttgart-Weimar: Metzler 1994, S. 595.

[1]

Peter Weiss
Weiss speaking during the acceptance ceremony for the Bremen Literature Prize, 1982
Born	Peter Ulrich Weiss (1916-11-08)8 November 1916 Nowawes, Brandenburg, Germany
Died	10 May 1982(1982-05-10) (aged 65) Stockholm, Sweden
Citizenship	Swedish
Alma mater	Polytechnic School of Photography; Academy of Fine Arts, Prague
Works	Marat/Sade; The Aesthetics of Resistance
Movement	Avant-garde
Spouses	Helga Henschen (1943) Carlota Dethorey (1949) Gunilla Palmstierna (1964)
Awards	Charles Veillon Award (1963) Lessing Prize (1965) Heinrich Mann Prize (1966) Tony Award for Best Play (Marat/Sade, 1966) Carl Albert Anderson Prize (1967) Thomas Dehler Prize (1978) Cologne Literature Prize (1981) Bremen Literature Prize (1982) De Nios Prize (1982) Swedish Theatre Critics Prize (1982) Georg Büchner Prize (1982)