Joseph von Westphalen, the German writer and columnist whose work combined social satire with a light, provocative style, has died in Munich at the age of 81. His death was reported by Süddeutsche Zeitung and confirmed to Der Spiegel by people close to his family.
Born in Schwandorf in 1945 and descended from an old Westphalian noble family, von Westphalen studied German literature before becoming an editor at the cultural magazine Westermanns Monatshefte. He later explained that he often failed to obtain texts in time, leading him to write numerous columns himself.
His work attracted the attention of Transatlantik, the magazine founded by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. There, von Westphalen created Harry von Duckwitz, a bon vivant and diplomat who became the central character in several novels. His fiction was marked by an accessible style and satire of social life.
He also published collections of deliberately provocative pieces, including Why I Became a Monarchist and Why I Became a Terrorist. In 1987, he caused a minor scandal through a published exchange of letters with East German author Monika Maron. One of his remarks from the correspondence was later published in Die Zeit magazine, an appearance he said helped establish his market value.
During the following years, von Westphalen became a sought-after contributor to a range of publications, including Die Woche, Theater heute, SPIEGEL SPECIAL and Munich’s Abendzeitung, for which he wrote more than 300 columns. Although born in Schwandorf, he had long been based in Munich.
In 1997, he hosted the television program Dichtung und Wahnsinn on Südwestfunk. The taz, however, criticized what it described as his rapid-fire delivery as unsuitable for television.
A jazz enthusiast, von Westphalen compiled a four-CD set with an accompanying book for the publisher Kein & Aber in the late 1990s. Wie man mit Jazz die Herzen der Frauen gewinnt was followed a decade later by a collection of columns originally written for Playboy.
Der Spiegel also highlighted an unusual episode from his career. In 1989, von Westphalen published a long poem attributed to David Elphinstone. After the book failed to sell, the remaining copies were destroyed in an accident. They were later reprinted at the request of an art patron and displayed as an installation in a manor house.
Joseph von Westphalen died in Munich on Thursday. He was 81.
Sources: Der Spiegel.