That Ever Child-Like Quality – The 80th Anniversary of Michael Ende's Birth
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Michael Ende, one of Germany's most popular postwar writers of children's books, would have turned 80 this year. The son of the Surrealist painter Edgar Ende was born in Garmisch-Patenkirchen on November 12, 1929 and died on August 28, 1995.
His books, which include Die unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story), Momo and Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver), have been translated into 45 languages and have sold over 20 million copies worldwide.
Michael Ende's career as a writer began as early as 1947 with his first published work Der Gaukler (The Illusionist). Ende's literary breakthrough came with Jim Knopf, which won the German Youth Book Award in 1960 and is still considered a German children's classic.
It was in particular his 1962 sequel to that book, Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 (Jim Button and the Wild 13), along with Momo (1973) and Die unendliche Geschichte (1979) that brought Ende international fame. Three film adaptations of his books have also helped cement his reputation.
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- A scene from "The Neverending Story" (1983), starring Noah Hathaway as Atreju, shown here with the white dragon.
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One important reason for the great popularity of Ende's books with young and old alike is his special gift for making complex subjects – often neglected as "unsuitable for children" – easily understandable without sacrificing narrative depth or humor.
For instance, in a story shaped no doubt by Michael Ende's experiences as a child growing up in the Third Reich, Jim Button and Luke the engine driver join forces with the half-dragon Nepomuk to end the tyranny of the pure-blooded dragons in Dragon City. The evil dragon is not executed, though; instead, it is forgiven and turns into a Far Eastern Golden Dragon of Wisdom.
Ende even turned his pen to the complexities of international politics: Die Geschichte von der Schüssel und vom Löffel (The Story of the Dish and the Spoon), published in 1990, tells of the feud between two kingdoms, one on the left-hand side and the other on the right-hand side of a mountain. A spiteful common kinsperson has presented one of the royal families with a dish and the other with a spoon. Whoever owns both enjoys an endless supply of soup, but each alone is completely worthless.
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The attempts of the two royal houses to gain possession of both utensils soon escalate, from failed negotiations to spying and theft to open warfare, which cause misery and devastation on the left and the right of the mountain. Reconciliation comes only when the children of the two royal couples meet with dish and spoon on the summit of the mountain, where they found a new kingdom.
In terms of both language and themes, Ende always refused to separate children's and adult literature – the "chasm of growing up". Perhaps that is why his stories resonate with children and grown-ups alike. Over the years, his books have lost none of their topicality and popularity, and their richness and diversity tempt us to reread and rediscover them.
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