German literature historian, critic, philologist, university professor
and writer.
President of the International PEN Center in Germany from 1976 to 1982
and the Academy of Arts in Berlin from 1989 to 1997.
Joining the literary association "Group 47" in 1950, he had his
breakthrough with the novel "Nein. Die Welt der Angeklagten." (No. The
world of the defendants.) in the same year.
Worked as television critic for the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" under
the pseudonym "Momos".