Juli Zeh
German writer (born 1974)
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Juli Zeh (pronounced [ˈjuː.li ˈt͡seː] ⓘ, Julia Barbara Finck, née Zeh; born 30 June 1974) is a German writer and judge. She is known for novels such as The Method (2009), Unterleuten (2016) and About People (2021).
- Writer
- judge
Juli Zeh | |
|---|---|
Zeh at Leipzig Book Fair, 2016 | |
| Born | 30 June 1974 |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2001–present |
Political party | Social Democratic Party (SPD) (2017–present) |
| Awards | Solothurner Literaturpreis (2009) |
Life
Juli Zeh is the daughter of the lawyer Wolfgang Zeh. She studied law in Passau and Leipzig, passing the Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen – comparable equivalent to the U.S. bar exam – in 2003, and holds a doctorate in international law from Saarland University.[1] She also has a degree from the German Institute for Literature Leipzig.[2] She is a member of Pen Centre Germany and the Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg.[3]
Since January 2019, Zeh is an honorary judge at the Constitutional Court of Brandenburg.[4][5] She was one of the first signers of the Open letter on the German position regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, who demanded not to support Ukraine with arms in order to "prevent a third world war".[6]
Besides her literary work, she also publishes articles and essays for Die Zeit, Der Spiegel and FAZ.[7] Alongside Gabor Steingart, she presents a literary podcast for the Pioneer AG.[8]
Literary Work
Zeh's first published novel was Eagles and Angels, which received the 2002 Deutscher Bücherpreis for best debut novel. It was translated into 35 languages and is settled in the world of the drug mafia internationally active lawyers. The novel has a legal focus, addressing international law.
She travelled through Bosnia-Herzegovina with her dog in 2001, which became the basis for the travel diary Die Stille ist ein Geräusch (2002).[1] Among her other books are Das Land der Menschen, Dark Matter, Kleines Konversationslexikon für Haushunde, Gaming Instinct, Ein Hund läuft durch die Republik (2004), Decompression and The Method. In 2009 she published Corpus Delicti: ein Prozess, following the play from 2007 of the same name.
The social novel Unterleuten, published in 2016, is settled in a fictional village in Brandenburg 20 years after the reunification of Germany. The self-help book Dein Erfolg by the ficitonal consultant Manfred Gortz, mentioned in the novel, was published by Juli Zeh under the pseudonym in 2015, which sparked allegations of plagiarism.[9] In 2020, the three-part film adaptation Unterleuten – Das zerrissene Dorf (Unterleuten – The Torn Village) was broadcast on ZDF.[10]
The reoccuring motif of the duality between the village and thecity can be found in her works Über Menschen (2021) and Zwischen Welten (2023), the latter was published with Simon Urban.[11]
In an interview with Erik Schilling she stated that her literary works are not explicitly political, but morally and socially relevant. A novel should not be one-sided and remain open to all possible interpretations.[12]
Personal life
Zeh is married and has two children.[1] Since 2017, she has been a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.[13]
Selected bibliography
- Novels
| Year | English title | Original title | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Eagles and Angels | Adler und Engel | 978-3-442-72926-5 | |
| 2004 | Gaming Instinct | Spieltrieb | 978-3-89561-056-1 | |
| 2007 | Dark Matter | Schilf | 978-3-89561-431-6 | US title: In Free Fall |
| 2009 | The Method | Corpus Delicti | 978-3-89561-434-7 | |
| 2012 | Decompression | Nullzeit | 978-3-89561-436-1 | First English translation in 2014 by Harvill Secker. Translated by John Cullen |
| 2016 | (not yet translated) | Unterleuten. Roman | 978-3-630-87487-6 | lit. 'Amongpeople' (a fictional place name) |
| 2017 | Empty Hearts | Leere Herzen. Roman | 978-3-630-87523-1 | Translated by John Cullen |
| 2018 | New Year[14] | Neujahr. Roman | 978-3-630-87572-9 | Translated by Alta L. Price |
| 2021 | About People | Über Menschen[15][16] | 978-3-630-87667-2 | Translated by Alta L. Price |
| 2023 | (not yet translated) | Zwischen Welten | 978-3-630-87741-9 | With Simon Urban; lit. 'Between Worlds' |
| 2026 | (not yet translated) | Pony Show[17] | 978-3-630-87865-2 |
- Other
| Year | English title | Original title | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | (not yet translated) | Die Stille ist ein Geräusch. Eine Fahrt durch Bosnien | 978-3-442-73104-6 | lit. 'Silence Is a Sound. A Journey through Bosnia' |
| 2004 | (not yet translated) | Ein Hund läuft durch die Republik | 978-3-89561-057-8 | Editor; lit. 'A Dog Runs through the Republic' |
| 2005 | (not yet translated) | Kleines Konversationslexikon für Haushunde | 978-3-89561-058-5 | lit. 'Little Conversation Lexicon for Household Dogs' |
| 2006 | (not yet translated) | Alles auf dem Rasen | 978-3-89561-059-2 | lit. 'Everything on the Lawn'; roughly 'The Full Monty' |
| 2008 | (not yet translated) | Das Land der Menschen | 978-3-89561-432-3 | lit. 'The Land of Humans' |
| 2009 | (not yet translated) | Angriff auf die Freiheit. Sicherheitswahn, Überwachungsstaat und der Abbau bürgerlicher Rechte[18] | 978-3-423-34602-3 | With Ilija Trojanow; lit. 'Attack on Freedom. Security Madness, Surveillance State and the Dismantling of Civil Rights'; excerpt in English in German Studies Review, 38, no. 2, (2015): 271–284 ISSN 0149-7952[19] |
| 2012 | (not yet translated) | Die Diktatur der Demokraten. Warum ohne Recht kein Staat zu machen ist | 978-3-89684-095-0 | lit. 'The Dictatorship of Democrats. Why no State Can Be Made Without Law' |
| 2013 | (not yet translated) | Good Morning, Boys and Girls. Theaterstücke | 978-3-89561-438-5 | lit. 'Good Morning, Boys and Girls. Plays' |
| 2013 | (not yet translated) | Treideln. Frankfurter Poetikvorlesungen | 978-3-89561-437-8 | lit. 'Towing. Frankfurt Poetics Lectures' |
| 2014 | (not yet translated) | Nachts sind das Tiere. Essays | 978-3-89561-440-8 | lit. 'At Night Are the Beasts. Essays' |
| 2015 | (not yet translated) | Dein Erfolg | 978-3-442-83942-1 | lit. 'Your Success'. Written under the pseudonym Manfred Gortz, a fictitious business consultant. The fictitious author and the book were mentioned later in Zeh's novel Unterleuten[20] |
| 2018 | (not yet translated) | Das Turbo-Ich. Der Mensch im Kommunikationszeitalter | lit. 'The Turbo-I: Man in the Communication Age' | |
| 2019 | (not yet translated) | Gebrauchsanweisung für Pferde | 978-3-492-27762-4 | lit. 'User Guide for Horses' |
