Zeitverwandtschaft

Bender's diverse body of work, which includes short stories, novels, poems, records, and quatrains, stands equally alongside his editorial activities. Hans Bender lived and worked in Cologne for over 50 years, from where he managed the editorial work of the magazine 'akzente' until 1980, which is still considered one of the most prestigious German literary journals today. Through the publication of anthologies, Bender has made significant contributions to the promotion of new poetry. His remarkable sense of literary quality helped many unknown authors step onto the literary stage. Michael Krüger, a long-time friend and publisher of Hans Bender, once wrote that one could fill five volumes with the testimonies of a long life dedicated to literature. From this seemingly inexhaustible material, Horst Bürger and Walter Hörner have compiled a selection of texts that is chronologically arranged and spans fifty years. This results in a very personal literary history - from the significant Franco-German writers' meeting in 1953 in Paris to the unusual encounter with Thomas Bernhard in 2011.