Biographical Info on Maxim Biller, Author of “The Maserati Years”

Maxim Biller has been called the “punk intellectual” and is a prominent author of the “Single Generation.” He was born in Prague in 1960 and immigrated to Germany with his parents when he was ten. After studies in German literature and journalism, he had tenure at the culture magazine “Tempo,” where he made a name for himself with the column “100 Lines of Hate”. In 1990, he published his first collection of short stories, “Someday when I’m rich and dead”. Hailed for his sarcasm, wit, and sharp intellect, Biller mostly tells stories of the children of Holocaust survivors trapped between integration in a society of ‘perpetrators’ and their roles as outsiders to that society. His passionate and intensely compelling fiction deals with the contemporary German-Jewish identity, which also been subject to controversy for his provocative writing. By breaking taboos, critics have claimed he has “tapped a nerve in Germany that has people both condemning and celebrating his work.” Other notable works have explored the idea of people wanting more from each other than they are ready to give, which can be seen in “The Maserati Years”. In 2003, his novel Esra excited attention when its sale was prohibited shortly after its release. Two people had a provisional order obtained because they claimed to have seen themselves reflected in characters in the book. Biller currently lives in Berlin.