Uwe Johnson

Uwe Johnson (1934–1984) was a German writer. He studied German literature at the University of Leipzig and began writing while still a student. He became known for his first published novel, *Speculations about Jakob* (*Mutmassungen über Jakob*); his major work is the four-part novel sequence *Anniversaries: From the Life of Gesine Cresspahl* (*Jahrestage*). From 1966 to 1968 he lived in New York, where he wrote the opening lines of *Anniversaries* in 1968. After the publication of *Speculations about Jakob*, he moved to West Berlin. In 1979 he was a visiting lecturer in poetics at the University of Frankfurt. Johnson received numerous awards, including the Georg Büchner Prize. He died in England in 1984.