Max Goldt

Goldt was born in the town of Weende, now Göttingen, to working-class parents originally from Silesia. In 1977, he moved to West Berlin to avoid conscription. He started training as a photographer, but soon turned to making music full-time, working in various daytime jobs to support himself, including as a tourist guide. It was during this time that he chose the pseudonym Max Goldt. In 1989, Goldt married East German performance artist Else Gabriel, enabling Gabriel to leave the GDR.

In 1978, Goldt joined Gerd Pasemann to form the core of the underground band Aroma Plus, who issued two self-released albums before disbanding. In 1981 Goldt and Pasemann formed the duo Foyer des Arts, with Goldt providing lyrics and vocals. Foyer des Arts was signed by Warner Music's German branch WEA and enjoyed moderate commercial during the New German Wave. Their only hit (#36 on the West German singles chart) was Wissenswertes über Erlangen ("Things Worth Knowing About Erlangen"), a satirical take at Goldt's experience as a tourist guide (1982). Although Foyer des Arts did not formally disband until 1995, they were on hiatus most of the time and Goldt started to home record solo albums with experimental, often instrumental music and as well as Sprechgesang and spoken word tracks with background music and various effects. Goldt also published much of the (often quite bizarre) lyrics as books.

From 1987, Goldt had a regular column in the Berlin underground magazine Ich und mein Staubsauger ("Me and my vacuum cleaner"), in which he wrote more "straightforward" yet humorous essays with a distinctive style. After the magazine's demise in 1988, Goldt's column began to appear in Titanic, Germany's premier satirical magazine, on a monthly basis. The change marked the beginning of Goldt's second career as a writer of essays. The column appeared under varying headlines (Aus Onkel Max’ Kulturtagebuch ["From Uncle Max's cultural diary"], Diese Kolumne hat vorübergehend keinen Namen ["This column is temporarily without a name"], Manfred Meyer berichtet aus Stuttgart ["Manfred Meyer reporting from Stuttgart"], and Informationen für Erwachsene ["Information for adults"]. Regularly reprinted (some in revised form) in book format, these essays established Goldt as a major author. Goldt regularly travels the German-speaking areas reading from his books, often drawing large crowds. Recordings from these performances have been released on a series of compact discs. Apart from that, he continues to record music (in the broadest sense), solo and with Stephan Winkler (as NUUK).

In 1998, Goldt suspended his regular contributions to Titanic, although one-off articles continued to appear, but eventually resumed them in 2005. Since 1996, Goldt has cooperated with cartoonist Stephan Katz as the cartoon duo Katz & Goldt. Their comic strips have appeared in Titanic, Die Zeit and in a series of books. In 2008, on the recommendation of Daniel Kehlmann, he was awarded the Kleist Prize. Since the 2010s, Goldt suffers from writer's block but continues to write comic scenarios.^[1]

Max Goldt's writing style is characterised by an ironic perspective on familiar aspects of everyday life; creative use of language, often combined with a critique of linguistic conventions in journalese and everyday language; frequent references to pop culture; ambiguity as to whether or not the narrator is relating the first-hand experience, opinions and sentiments of the author.^[2]

• 1997 Kassel Literary Prize^[3]
• 2008 Kleist Prize^[4]
• 2008 Hugo Ball Prize (de)^[5]

see Foyer des Arts for more

• Die majestätische Ruhe des Anorganischen, ARO 007, 1984
• Restaurants, Restaurants, Restaurants. Zweiundzwanzig hysterische Miniaturen, TEAM records, 1986
• Die Radiotrinkerin & Die legendäre letzte Zigarette, Fünfundvierzig, 1990
• Nirgendwo Fichtenkreuzschnäbel, überall Fichtenkreuzschnäbel, Fünfundvierzig, 1993
• Musik wird niemals langsam (with Michael Dubach und Nino Sandow), Fünfundvierzig, 1994
• Ende Juli, Anfang August (streng limitiertes Schlauchalbum mit Heimaufnahmen 1982 – 1989), LP, Hidden Records, 1994
• Alte Pilze (Historische Heimaufnahmen 1981 – 1992 Volume II, LP, Hidden Records, 1996
• Legasthenie im Abendwind (Historische Heimaufnahmen 1981 – 1995 Volume III), LP, Hidden Records, 1997
• Nuuk (Stephan Winkler and Max Goldt): Nachts in schwarzer Seilbahn nach Waldpotsdam, Traumton (CD) / Hidden Records (Vinyl), 1998
• Bundesratsufer. Instrumentals, Captain Trip Records, 1999

• Die sonderbare Zwitter-CD (Lese-Live Eins), Fünfundvierzig, 1993
• Die CD mit dem Kaffeeringecover (Lese-Live Zwei), Fünfundvierzig, 1994
• Weihnachten im Bordell (Lese-Live Drei), Fünfundvierzig, 1995
• Objekt mit Souvenircharakter (Lese-Live Vier), Fünfundvierzig, 1996
• Schöne Greatest Lese Live Oldies – Komische Appläuse Motor, 1997
• Das kellerliterarische Riesenrad (mit Ditterich von Euler-Donnersperg), Fünfundvierzig, 1998
• Die Aschenbechergymnastik, Raben Records/Heyne 2000
• Der Krapfen auf dem Sims, Heyne Hörbuch, 2001, ISBN 3-453-19096-3
• Okay Mutter, ich nehme die Mittagsmaschine., Hörbuch München, 2002, ISBN 3-453-16783-X
• Wenn man einen weißen Anzug anhat und anderes, Hörbuch Hamburg, 2003, ISBN 3-89903-118-0
• Für Nächte am offenen Fenster. Luxusprosa aus den neunziger Jahren, Hörbuch Hamburg, 2003, ISBN 3-89903-123-7
• Für Nächte am offenen Fenster. Zweite Folge-besser als die erste, Hörbuch Hamburg, 2004, ISBN 3-89903-156-3
• Ein Leben auf der Flucht vor der Koralle , Hörbuch Hamburg, 2005, ISBN 3-89903-186-5
• Vom Zauber des seitlich dran Vorbeigehens, Hörbuch Hamburg, 2005, ISBN 3-89903-187-3
• 'ne Nonne kauft 'ner Nutte 'nen Duden. Dreizehn Texte 1991–2005 , Hörbuch Hamburg, 2006, ISBN 3-89903-236-5
• QQ – Quiet Quality, Hörbuch Hamburg, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89903-409-7
• Nichts als Punk und Pils und Staatsverdruß, Hörbuch Hamburg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89903-490-5