Honorary Doctorate Awarded to Raimund Fellinger

On 4 February 2012, the University of Greifswald’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities awarded an honorary doctorate to Raimund Fellinger, the Editor-in-Chief of Suhrkamp publishing house. This was in recognition of his commitment to contemporary German literature and culture. As a member of the board of the Peter Suhrkamp Foundation, Raimund Fellinger has intensively promoted the work of the Wolfgang Koeppen Archive and supported research about Wolfgang Koeppen.

During the conferral of the honorary doctorate in the Aula of the University of Greifswald, Prof. Dr. Peter Sloterdijk paid tribute to Raimund Fellinger's achievements. Christoph Hein read from an unpublished new manuscript.

Raimund Fellinger, born on 1 October 1951 in Dillingen/Saar, began working as an editor at Suhrkamp publishing house in 1979 after studying German language and literature, linguistics and political science. In 1980 he took over responsibility for the edition suhrkamp. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Suhrkamp Verlag as of 2006 and, from 2010, also Editor-in-Chief of the Insel Verlag. He was considered an important literary mediator, editor and publisher.

By awarding Raimund Fellinger the title of Dr. phil. h. c., the University's Faculty of Arts and Humanities honoured his commitment to contemporary German literature and culture over the past three decades. In the course of his professional activities as an editor at the Suhrkamp publishing house and beyond, he has put his interest in German literature and the humanities and cultural studies, which is as substantial as it is broad, into practice in a number of ways. His work contributed to the lasting support and visibility of German literature.

"These services are worthy of recognition, particularly today. As a literary editor, Raimund Fellinger combines literature and science with great ease. He does this thoughtfully and confidently on the basis of comprehensive knowledge of world literature as well as the humanities and social sciences. In this sense, Fellinger's editing and editorial work, which is hardly visible in the regular 'day to day', is fundamental and pioneering for literature, for cultural studies as well as for the self-conception of culture in Germany. We must mention his contribution to the works of Uwe Johnson, as well as his work as an editor for other important German-language authors, such as Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke, Christoph Hein or Peter Sloterdijk," explains Eckhard Schumacher, Professor of Contemporary German Literature at the University of Greifswald.

For many years, Raimund Fellinger was closely associated with Greifswald and especially with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. As editor of the Suhrkamp Verlag, Editor-in-Chief and a member of the board of the Peter Suhrkamp Foundation, he promoted the Faculty of Arts and Humanities’ commitment towards Wolfgang Koeppen. It is not least thanks to him that the University of Greifswald’s Wolfgang Koeppen Archive could be maintained in the town and has developed further into a research centre for modernist literature. Raimund Fellinger was a member of the board of the International Wolfgang Koeppen Society, many of his publications are dedicated to Wolfgang Koeppen and his commitment has thus also promoted the strengthening of relations between the town of Greifswald, the University and Wolfgang Koeppen.

Career

Raimund Fellinger was born in Saarland in 1951. After studying German language and literature, linguistics and political science, he took up a position as editor at the Suhrkamp publishing house in 1979 and assumed responsibility for the edition suhrkamp the following year. He was the publishing house's editor-in-chief as of 2006, a position he also held at the Insel Verlag from 2010.

As a member of the board of the Peter Suhrkamp Foundation, Fellinger promoted the expansion of the Wolfgang Koeppen Archive at the University of Greifswald into a research centre for modernist literature. He was also President of the International Thomas Bernhard Society until January 2015.

He passed away on 25 April 2020.