Марсель Рейх-Раницкий: жизнь и литературная критика

Polish born German literary critic

Marcel Reich Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the field of German literature and has often been called Literaturpapst ("Pope of Literature") in Germany.

Marcel Reich was born on 2 June 1920 in Włocławek, Poland, to David Reich, a Polish Jewish merchant, and his wife, Helene (née Auerbach) Reich, who came from a German Jewish family. Reich and his family moved to Berlin in 1929. Reich dedicated himself to the reading of German classics and practicing the theatre. The literary critic Volker Weidermann wrote that "he found his salvation in literature". After being denied at university of Berlin, he was arrested and deported to Poland. In his 1999 autobiography, The Author of Himself, Ranicki affirmed, "I had a ticket for [a] première that evening – I wouldn't be needing it." In November 1940, Reich and his parents found themselves in the Warsaw Ghetto, during which time he worked for the Judenrat as a chief translator, In 1943 Reich and his wife managed to escape the Ghetto. His parents and brother were murdered in the Holocaust. His sister survived, having escaped to England shortly before the war. He joined the communist Polish Workers' Party after the war. From 1948 to 1949 he was a Polish diplomat and intelligence worker (operating under the pseudonym "Ranicki") in London.

As a tough critic Reich Ranicki had a difficult relationship with other authors. Following the publication of Too Far Afield by his fellow Gruppe 47 member Günter Grass, Reich Ranicki appeared on the cover of the magazine Der Spiegel, tearing the novel apart. The magazine included his unfavorable review of the book. Reich Ranicki praised Grass' next book, Crabwalk. Another frequent target of Reich Ranicki was writer Martin Walser. In 2002, Walser published the crime novel Death of a Critic (Tod eines Kritikers) as a revenge against Reich Ranicki. In the book a prominent, bigoted critic named André Ehrl König – who shares many similarities with Reich Ranicki – is murdered. The novel became a hot topic of debate in Germany. Australian writer Clive James stated, "Every living German writer wants his praise, but it has always been hard to get: the reason, of course, why they would like to have it."