Johnson, Uwe

Johnson, Uwe (ü'vā yôn'zôn) [key], 1934–84, German novelist. Johnson's works explore the complex effects on the average person of the postwar division of Germany, both halves of which he sees as zones of moral poverty. His best-known novels include Mutmassungen über Jakob (1959; tr. Speculations about Jacob, 1963) and Das dritte Buch über Achim (1961; tr. The Third Book about Achim, 1966). In Jahrestage (1970–74, tr. Anniversaries, 1975) he relates his sense of the failure of liberalism in the U.S. in the 1960s to its failure in Germany in the 1930s.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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