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Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende (12 November 1929 - 28 August 1995) was a German writer of fantasy and children's literature. He was born in Garmisch (Bavaria, Germany), son of the surrealist painter Edgar Ende. He died in Filderstadt (Germany) of stomach cancer.

Die unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story) is Ende's best known work. Other books include Momo and Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (English title Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver). Michael Ende's works have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 20 million copies, and have been adapted into motion pictures, stage plays, operas and audio books.

Ende was one of the most popular and famous German authors of the 20th century, mostly due to the enormous success of his children's books. However, Ende was not strictly a children's author, as he also wrote books for adults. Ende claimed, "It is for this child in me, and in all of us, that I tell my stories," and that "[my books are] for any child between 80 and 8 years" (qtd. Senick 95, 97). Ende often found frustration in being perceived as exclusively an author for children, considering himself rather a man intending to speak of cultural problems and spiritual wisdom to people of all ages in his works; he wrote in 1985:

"One may enter the literary parlor via just about any door, be it the prison door, the madhouse door, or the brothel door. There is but one door one may not enter it through, which is the child room door. The critics will never forgive you such. The great Rudyard Kipling is one of a number of people to have suffered from this. I keep wondering to myself what this peculiar contempt towards anything related to childhood is all about."^[1]

Ende's writing could be described as a surreal mixture of reality and fantasy. The reader is often invited to take a more interactive role in the story, and the worlds in his books often mirror our reality, using fantasy to bring light to the problems of an increasingly technological modern society. Not least of all because of having attended a Waldorf school as a child, his writings were influenced by anthroposophy.^[2][3] Ende was also known as a proponent of economic reform, and claimed to have had the concept of aging money in mind when writing Momo.

Early life

Ende was born November 12, 1929 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria, Germany). An only child, his parents were Edgar Ende, a surrealist painter, and Luise Bartholomä Ende, a physiotherapist (Coby 258). Since his artwork was banned by the Nazi party, Edgar Ende was forced to work in secret. In 1935, when he was six, the Ende family moved to the "artists' quarter of Schwabing" in Munich (Haase 55). Growing up in this rich artistic and literary environment influenced Ende’s later writing.

Ende attended the Maximillians Gymnasium until schools in Munich were closed due to bombings in 1943 (Colby 258). He resumed school at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart. It was at this time that Ende first began to write stories ("Michael," par. 3). He aspired to be a "dramatist," but wrote mostly short stories and poems (Haase 55). In 1945, sixteen year old Ende was drafted into the German army, but deserted and joined an anti-Nazi group for the remainder of the war (Colby 258; “Michael,” par. 3).

After World War II, Ende decided that he wanted to be a playwright, but accepted a scholarship to study acting at the Otto-Falkenberg-Schauspielschule in Munich, since he could not afford to pay for college (Haase 55).

Bibliography

Michael Ende's works include: (Note – original titles are listed in German, followed by the English translation of the title in captions. Any translations of an entire work into English are listed.)

• 1960 - * Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (Translated into English by Anthea Bell as Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver)
  • children's book
  • Overlook Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87951-391-8
  • Winner of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1961.

• 1962 - Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 (Jim Button and the Wild 13)
  • children's book

• 1967 - Die Spielverderber (The Spoilsport)
  • play

• 1972 - Tranquilla Trampeltreu die beharrliche Schildkröte (1972)
  • children's book

• 1973 - Momo (1973) (Translated into English by Francis Lobb as The Grey Gentlemen, and by J. Maxwell Brownjohn as Momo.)
  • children's book - Ende wrote and illustrated
  • Viking Penguin Press, 1986, ISBN 0-14-009464-4
  • Winner of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1974.

• 1975 - "Das Kleine Lumpenkasperle"
  • children's book

• 1978 Das Traumfresserchen (Translated into English by Gwen Mars as The Dream Eater in 1978)

• 1978 - Lirum Larum Willi Warum: Eine lustige Unsinngeschichte für kleine Warumfrager
  • children's book

• 1979 - Die unendliche Geschichte: Von A bis Z (Translated into English by Ralph Manheim as The Neverending Story)
  • children's book
  • Amereon Ltd., 1979, ISBN 0-8488-1306-5
  • Buccaneer Books, 1991, ISBN 0-89966-807-0
  • Puffin Books, 1993, ISBN 0-14-038633-5
  • NAL/Dutton, 1997, ISBN 0-525-45758-5

• 1981 Der Lindwurm und der Schmetterling oder Der seltsame Tausch (1981)
  • children's book

• 1982 - Die zerstreute Brillenschlange
  • a play

• 1982 - Die Schattennähmaschine
  • children's book

• 1982 - Das Gauklermärchen (The Juggler's Tale)
  • a play

• 1982 - Written with Erhard Eppler and Hanne Tächl - Phantasie/Kultur/Politik: Protokoll eines Gesprächs (Fantasy/Culture/Politics: transcript of a conversation)
  • non-fiction

• 1982 - Die Ballade von Norbert Nackendick; oder das nackte Nashom
  • children's book

• 1984 - Norbert Nackendick; oder das nackte Nashom
  • children's book based on his play

• 1984 - Der Spiegel im Spiegel (1986)(Translated into English by J. Maxwell Brownjohn as Mirror in the Mirror: a labyrinth in 1986)
  • a collection of short stories for adults illustrated with Ende's father, Edgar Ende's engravings.

• 1984 - Filemon Faltenreich
  • children's book

• 1984 - Der Goggolori (1984)
  • wrote and illustrated
  • a play based on a Bavarian legend

• 1985 - Archäologie der Dunkelheit (Archaeology of Darkness)
  • nonfiction, about Edgar Ende and his work

• 1986 Trödelmarkt der Träume: Mitternachtslieder und leise Balladen (Midnight songs and quiet ballads)
  • collection of poetry and lyrics

• 1988 - Ophelias Schattentheater (Translated into English by Anthea Bell as Ophelia's Shadow Theater in 1989)
  • Overlook Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87951-371-3

• 1988 - Wrote the libretto for Die Jagd nach dem Schlarg
  • Opera adaptation of The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll

• Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch (1989) (Translated into English by Heike Schwarzbauer and Rick Takvorian as The Night of Wishes: or, The Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Notion Potion in 1992)
  • children's novel
  • Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992, ISBN 0-374-19594-3
  • Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995, ISBN 0-374-45503-1

• 1989 - Die Vollmondlegende (1989) (The Legend of the Full Moon)

• 1990 - Die Geschichte von der Schüssel und vom Löffel
  • children's book.

• 1992 - Das Gefängnis der Freiheit
  • adult short stories.
  • Weitbrecht Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3522708504

• 1992 - Der lange Weg nach Santa Cruz (The Long Road to Santa Cruz)

• 1993 - Der Teddy und die Tiere
  • children's book.

• 1993 - Wrote the libretto for the opera Der Rattenfänger: ein Hamelner Totentanz. Oper in elf Bildern

• 1998 - Der Niemandsgarten
  • fiction

Most of the above information was retrieved from the following sources:

• Coby, Vineta, ed. "Michael Ende." World Authors 1980 - 1985. New York, New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1991. p. 259.

• Haase, Donald P. "Michael Ende." Dictionary of Literary Biography: Contemporary German Fiction Writers, Second Series. Eds. Wolfgang D. Elfe and James Hardin. Vol 75. Detroit Michigan: Gale Research Inc, 1988. p. 55, 57.

• "Michael Ende." Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group. 2003. par. 16-17.

Notes

References

• Colby, Vineta, ed. "Michael Ende." World Authors 1980 – 1985. New York, New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1991.
• Haase, Donald P. "Michael Ende." Dictionary of Literary Biography: Contemporary

German Fiction Writers, Second Series. Eds. Wolfgang D. Elfe and James Hardin. Vol. 75. Detroit Michigan: Gale Research Inc, 1988.

• Hilbun, Janet. "Ende, Michael." The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature.

Eds. Bernice E. Cullinan and Diane G. Person. New York, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, 2001.

• "Michael Ende." Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group, 2003. <www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC> 3 Feb 2003.
• Senick, Gerard J., ed. "Michael Ende." Children's Literature Review. Vol. 14. Detroit, Michigan. Gale Research Company, 1988.
• Zipes, Jack, ed. "Ende, Michael." Donald Haase. The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. New York, New York: Oxford University Press Inc, 2000.

External links

• Michael Ende personal web site (German) with extensive biographical information (in German) and photos.
• Michael Ende in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Multi-lingual bibliography of Michael Ende
• Michael Ende's Last Words to the Japanese

From Wikiquote

Michael Ende (12 November 1929 – 28 August 1995) was a German writer of fantasy novels and children's books.

See also: The Neverending Story

Sourced

• Time is Life.
  • Momo (1973) Originally "Zeit ist Leben"

• Lots of things take time, and time was Momo's only form of wealth.
  • Momo (1973)

• In the ancient cultural places of the world there was a temple, a church or a cathedral in its center. From there came the order of life. In every modern big city there is a bank building in its center. In my »Pied Piper« I have tried to depict this as a kind of demon cult, where money is something to be prayed to like something sacred. It's even being expressed there in words that it is »God«. It performs miracles, because the multiplication of money itself is yet a miracle. After all, the dealings there are with a miraculous multiplication of money. It has the character of everlastingness. But if there is anything that is just a purely man-made thing, then it's money.
  • "Ende no yuigon" ["Ende's Last Message"] (May 1999), broadcast of an interview of February 1994, as quoted in "Michael Ende's Last Words to the Japanese" at Equilibrism (www.equilibrismus.de)

• 'You were compelled to?' he repeated. 'You mean you weren't sufficiently powerful to resist?'
  'In order to seize power,' replied the dictator, 'I had to take it from those that had it, and in order to keep it I had to employ it against those that sought to deprive me of it.'
  The chef's hat gave a nod. 'An old, old story. It has been repeated a thousand times, but no one believes it. That's why it will be repeated a thousand times more.'
  The dictator felt suddenly exhausted. He would gladly have sat down to rest, but the old man and the children walked on and he followed them.
  'What about you?' he blurted out, when he had caught the old man up. 'What do you know of power? Do you seriously believe that anything great can be achieved on earth without it?'
  'I?' said the old man. 'I cannot tell great from small.'
  'I wanted power so that I could give the world justice,' bellowed the dictator, and blood began to trickle afresh from the wound in his forehead, 'but to get it I had to commit injustice, like anyone who seeks power. I wanted to end oppression, but to do so I had to imprison and execute those who opposed me - I became an oppressor despite myself. To abolish violence we must use it, to eliminate human misery we must inflict it, to render war impossible we must wage it, to save the world we must destroy it. Such is the true nature of power.'
  Chest heaving, he had once more barred the old man's path with his pistol ready.'
  'Yet you love it still,' the old man said softly.
  'Power is the supreme virture!' The dictator's voice quavered and broke. 'But its sole shortcoming is sufficient to spoil the whole: it can never be absolute - that's what makes it so insatiable. The only true form of power is omnipotence, which can never be attained, hence my disenchantment with it. Power has cheated me.'
  'And so,' said the old man, 'you have become the very person you set out to fight. It happens again and again. That is why you cannot die.'
  The dictator slowly lowered his gun. 'Yes,' he said, 'you're right. What's to be done?'
  'Do you know the legend of the Happy Monarch?' asked the old man.
  ...
  'When the Happy Monarch came to build the huge, mysterious palace whose planning alone had occupied ten whole years of his life, and to which marvelling crowds made pilgrimage long before its completion, he did something strange. No one will ever know for sure what made him do it, whether wisdom or self-hatred, but the night after the foundation stone had been laid, when the site was dark and deserted, he went there in secret and buried a termites' nest in a pit beneath the foundation stone itself. Many decades later - almost a life time had elapsed, and the many vicissitudes of his turbulent reign had long since banished all thought of the termites from his mind - when the unique building was finished at last and he, its architect and author, first set foot on the battlements of the topmost tower, the termites, too, completed their unseen work. We have no record of any last words that might shed light on his motives, because he and all his courtiers were buried in the dust and rubble of the fallen palace, but long-enduring legend has it that, when his almost unmarked body was finally unearthed, his face wore a happy smile.'
  
  • (Pride, self-glorification as the termites' nest, glorious self, glorious work, grand vision of the future as the palace to be built), "Mirror in the Mirror", page.193

• going through the door called death, (last chapter of Mirror in the Mirror):

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Michael Ende

• Various philosophical quotes
• Bibliography of Michael Ende