Walter Jens

Walter Jens (1923–2013) was a German writer, classical philologist, and rhetorician. He studied in Hamburg and Freiburg, received his doctorate in 1944, and completed his habilitation in 1949. From 1962 to 1989, he taught classical philology and rhetoric at the University of Tübingen. He subsequently served as president of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin from 1989 to 1997. Jens wrote novels, scholarly and essayistic works, as well as radio and television plays; his early works include “Nein. Die Welt der Angeklagten” (1950) and “Der Mann, der nicht alt werden wollte” (1955). He also translated the Gospels and the Letter to the Romans and published television criticism under the pseudonym Momos. In 1988, he and Inge Jens received the Theodor Heuss Prize.