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{{short description|German writer and environmental activist}}
'''Carl Amery''' (9 April 1922 – 24 May 2005), the [[pen name]] of '''Christian Anton Mayer''', was a German [[writer]] and environmental activist. Born in [[Munich]], he studied at the [[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München]] (LMU). He was a participant of [[Gruppe 47]]. He died in Munich.

Amery won the [[Deutscher Fantasy Preis]] in 1996.<ref name="edfc"/>

== Personal life ==

Son of art historian Anton Mayer-Pfannholz, in his childhood he predominantly lived in [[Passau]] and [[Freising]]. At Passau, he attended the Humanistisches Gymnasium Passau, at Freising the Dom-Gymnasium. Both cities left traces in his work. Passau appears in his novels ''Der Wettbewerb'' and ''Der Untergang der Stadt Passau''. Freising appears in his novel ''Das Geheimnis der Krypta''. He was a scholarship student of {{ill|Stiftung Maximilianeum|de}} and studied [[Philology]] at the [[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München]] (LMU) and at the [[Catholic University of America]].{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

He was drafted into the army in 1941. In 1943, he became a [[prisoner of war]] in the [[Tunisian campaign]].<ref name="Goodbody 1999">{{cite web |last=Goodbody |first=Axel |title=From Raabe to Amery: German Literature in Ecocritical Perspective |url=https://people.bath.ac.uk/mlsahg/summary.htm |publisher=University of Bath |date=1999 |access-date=24 January 2023 |quote=The following text is a shortened version of a paper given in April 1998 at the annual Conference of University Teachers of German. A longer version can be found in ''From Classical Shades to Vickers Victorious: Shifting Perspectives in British German Studies'', ed. Steve Giles and Peter Graves, Bern, etc. 1999, pp. 77-96. }}</ref> He returned to [[Munich]] in 1946 and resumed his studies in [[linguistics]] and [[literary criticism]]. He began to write, starting with short stories under the name Chris Mayer. Then he chose the pseudonymous Carl Amery, Amery being an [[anagram]] of Mayer.{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

He died of [[emphysema]] on May 24, 2005, and was buried at [[Ostfriedhof (Munich)]] May 30, 2005.{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

== Work ==

In 1954, Amery's first novel ''Der Wettbewerb'' was published. In 1958, now a member of the writers' association [[Gruppe 47]], his novel ''Die große Deutschlandtour'' established his reputation as a [[Satire|satirist]].{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

In 1963 his publications ''Die Kapitulation oder Deutscher Katholizismus heute'' and ''Das Ende der Vorsehung. Die gnadenlosen Folgen des Christentums'' revealed another side of his work. He allotted the global [[ecocide]] to Christianity and that predestined him as thought leader of [[political ecology]]. Further publications, particularly ''Die ökologische Chance'', and his personal engagement emphasised this leadership. He was an early member of [[Alliance 90/The Greens]], and in 1980 founded the independent [[E. F. Schumacher]] society.{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

From 1967 to 1971, he was the director of the Munich Municipal Library {{ill|Münchner Stadtbibliothek|de}}.

In 1974, he turned to [[science fiction]] and [[fantasy]]. For a "high literature" author this was an unusual step, influenced in particular by [[G. K. Chesterton]]. His SF novels were ''[[Das Königsprojekt]]'' (1974), ''Der Untergang der Stadt Passau'' (1975) and ''An den Feuern der Leyermark'' (1979).{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}
In the view of the scholar of German environmental literature, Axel Goodbody, ''Der Untergang der Stadt Passau'' skilfully dramatises ecology through the medium of science fiction.<ref name="Goodbody 1999"/>

Two further novels address fantasy and [[Bavaria]]n spirituality: ''Die Wallfahrer'' (1986) and ''Das Geheimnis der Krypta'' (1990). Goodbody comments that these have a more complex structure than his earlier science fiction, and are more elaborately [[Intertextuality|intertextual]].<ref name="Goodbody 1999"/> In his view, Amery's "entertaining use of the mechanism of time travel, his play with fiction and historical reality, his colourful juxtaposition of competing genre forms and linguistic registers, and his idiosyncratic use of metaphor, allusion and quotation belie a deeply serious underlying message."<ref name="Goodbody 1999"/>
In ''Das Geheimnis der Krypta'', as in ''An den Feuern der Leyermark'' or ''Das Königsprojekt'', Amery, like e.g. [[L. Neil Smith]], discussed the effect of minor changes in specific historic circumstances on changing overall history.{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

He won the [[Deutscher Fantasy Preis]] in 1996.<ref name="edfc">{{cite web |title=Deutscher Fantasy Preis |url=http://www.edfc.de/edfc-fantasypreis.htm |website=edfc: Phantastik in Literatur und Film |access-date=24 January 2023 |language=German}}</ref>

From 1985 onwards his collected works were published as single releases by {{ill|List Verlag|de}} of Munich. In 2001 Amery stated in an interview that he would not publish any further novels for health reasons.{{sfn|Furness|Humble|1991}}

== Novels and short stories ==

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Title
! Year
|-
| ''Der Wettbewerb''
| 1954
|-
| ''Die große deutsche Tour''
| 1958
|-
| ''[[Das Königsprojekt]]''
| 1974
|-
| ''Der Untergang der Stadt Passau''
| 1975
|-
| ''An den Feuern der Leyermark''
| 1979
|-
| ''Im Namen Allahs des Allbarmherzigen''
| 1981
|-
| ''Nur einen Sommer gönnt Ihr Gewaltigen''
| 1985
|-
| ''Die starke Position oder Ganz normale MAMUS''
| 1985
|-
| ''Die Wallfahrer''
| 1986
|-
| ''Das Geheimnis der Krypta''
| 1990
|}

==Essays==
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Title
! Year
|-
| ''Die Kapitulation; oder, Deutscher Katholizismus heute'' <br /> (English: ''Capitulation: an Analysis of Contemporary Catholicism'')
| 1963 <br /> (English: 1967)
|-
| ''Fragen an Welt und Kirche. 12 Essays''
| 1967
|-
| ''Das Ende der Vorsehung. Die gnadenlosen Folgen des Christentums''
| 1972
|-
| ''Natur als Politik. Die ökologische Chance des Menschen.''
| 1976
|-
| ''G. K. Chesterton oder der Kampf gegen die Kälte''
| 1981
|-
| ''Leb wohl, geliebtes Volk der Bayern''
| 1982
|-
| ''Die ökologische Chance''
| 1985
|-
| ''Das ökologische Problem als Kulturauftrag''
| 1988
|-
| ''Hitler als Vorläufer. Auschwitz – der Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts?''
| 1998
|}

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book |last1=Furness |first1=Raymond |last2=Humble |first2=Malcolm |year=1991 |chapter=Carl Amery |title=A Companion to Twentieth Century German Literature |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-01987-7}}

{{Alliance 90/The Greens}}
{{Kurd Laßwitz Award Best Novel}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amery, Carl}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Munich]]
[[Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:German science fiction writers]]
[[Category:All-German People's Party politicians]]
[[Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians]]
[[Category:Alliance 90/The Greens politicians]]
[[Category:LMU Munich alumni]]
[[Category:Catholic University of America faculty]]
[[Category:Burials at the Ostfriedhof (Munich)]]
[[Category:German male writers]]
[[Category:Deutscher Fantasy Preis winners]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II]]

Carl Amery - Revision history

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