From civil engineer to author
(Interview from 2011)
Dagmar Möbius
A careers advisor once encouraged Jens Wonneberger to study civil engineering at TU Dresden (TUD). He successfully completed his degree, and even went into research. Then he was drawn to writing. Today, he is an award-winning author – but he has also put his construction skills to use.
Before Jens Wonneberger discovered his talent for writing, he studied civil engineering.
"Let me just finish this sentence and delete something." It is ten o'clock in the morning. Jens Wonneberger has been sitting at his desk for three hours. Just like every day. He will probably work until this evening. With discipline and patience. The words do not always flow easily.
However, the graduate civil engineer has long since turned his passion for writing into his profession. In his adolescence, he still did not know what to study when he came to the end of high school. "I was better in science than in arts subjects and it interested and fascinated me," the 50-year-old recalls. Sports too. A careers advisor recommended civil engineering at TUD, so Wonneberger, originally from Ohorn, moved to Dresden in 1980. He spent the first two years living in student accommodation in Budapester Straße – a barrack with seven- or eight-man dorms. "In the summer, it was only possible to to wear swimming trunks in there and in winter, water would freeze on the table," he recalls. A description that could have come straight from one of his books. He has fond memories of his student days. Less fond memories of the theory-heavy classes. "I still dream about metal constructions sometimes," he laughs. Those flashbacks tend to be negative. "I wouldn't have been confident going on a construction site as a site manager," he sums it up. In his final-year dissertation, he investigated whether ultrasonic measurements of installed wooden beams could be used to draw conclusions about their load-bearing capacity. "It was not possible," he notes in matter-of-fact tones. After graduating in 1985, Jens Wonneberger worked as a research engineer on developing a precast concrete system that could replace wooden structures. After a few months, he quit. "At that time, the motto was 'focus on the roofs,' but the project was nonsensical."
Jens Wonneberger, who had been introduced to literature during his time in the army by a fellow soldier working as a German teacher, had already been writing for several years. In order to pursue his passion, he worked as a cleaner in an antiquarian bookstore until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Later, he was an assistant in a pottery. He also looked after for his two, now grown, children. He has been a freelance writer since 1992. He publishes reviews in the Dresden magazine ‘Sax’ and writes for the newspaper ‘Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten’ (In English: Dresden Latest News). Wonneberger joined the PEN executive board in 2002. He has published six novels, two volumes of short stories, a series of works on the history of literature and an encyclopedia of Dresden writers. TUD has not played a role in his books so far – but it might. Sometimes engineers figure in his stories. In his most recent book, "Heimatkunde Dresden", (In English: A Local History of Dresden) published in 2009, Wonneberger gives a personal perspective on the city. "My education comes up, too," he smiles.
Wonneberger has published works including six novels and two collections of short stories.
His "sometimes humorous and self-deprecating, but also very endearing way" of telling stories about Dresden's historical figures and the city's oddities was honored in November 2010 with the Literaturförderpreis 2010 (In English: Literature Scholarship Prize) from the Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts. The award recognized the high quality and unpretentious artistry of his realistic prose, remarkable for both its depth and its effortlessness. For Jens Wonneberger, the prize came as a pleasant surprise, for unlike several scholarships he has received both in Germany and abroad, it is not something you can nominate yourself for.
Currently, the author is working on a new novel. He does not want to reveal the details yet. The process takes one to two years from start to finish. "You can't be sure that something will come out of it," he says, describing the creative process; "everything evolves as you work." He is also currently writing a non-fiction book about authors in the district of Hellerau. Jens Wonneberger often visits the university library. "You always have a use for the basic research tools you learned at university," he says. He looks up to up to many writers. "Who exactly, changes as I get older and it depends on the topic." He reads a lot. Because he loves language, and because he wants to know what else is being written.
Jens Wonneberger did end up building something after all. With two architect friends, he bought a dilapidated house in Dresden's Neustadt district and they worked from 1993 to 1995 on renovating the place. He still lives in that historical building today.
Contact details:
Email: Jens Wonneberger