ON 4 NOVEMBER 2007, DRESDEN-BORN AUTHOR Ingo Schulze (b. 1962) won the Thüringer Literaturpreis (Thüringen Literary Prize). Awarded in Weimar, the prize celebrated Schulze’s status as “einer der bedeutendsten Prosaautoren im heutigen Deutschland” (one of the most significant prose authors in contemporary Germany). The prize jury — consisting of representatives from Thüringen’s Literarische Gesellschaft (Literary Society) — praised in particular the ability of Schulze’s fiction to capture the changes that had accompanied the collapse of socialism. However, it was also these changes that provided the focus for Schulze’s less-than-grateful acceptance speech. Rather than use the occasion to express his gratitude for a prize worth 6000 euros, Schulze criticized the manner of the prize’s sponsorship — by energy giant E.ON — deeming it evidence of a postunification tendency toward what he controversially termed the “Refeudalisierung des Kulturbetriebes” (refeudalization of the culture industry). The award represented for Schulze a “Zwiespalt” (inner conflict): he was thrilled that Thüringen, in which Altenburg (where he once lived and worked) is located, should deem his work worthy of a prize, but its sponsorship — indeed, its “Mäzenatentum” (patronage) — by E. ON raised uncomfortable questions for him as both citizen and author. To Schulze’s mind, Thüringen’s decision to finance its literary prize using a commercial sponsor compromised Germany’s sovereignty: in effect, the state was abdicating power to commerce in the field of art and culture (as well as in health, education, and transport). In addition, his acceptance of the Thüringer Literaturpreis placed him in a similarly dependent position, his ability to negotiate an autonomous authorial identity being undermined by his function as a “Werbeträger” (walking advertisement) for E.ON.

The fallout from Schulze’s speech occupied both the mainstream and the specialist literary press for the following six months, particularly his charge of “refeudalization.” For several commentators, the charge drew particular attention to the question of artistic autonomy in a country increasingly reliant on Kultursponsoring (defined here specifically as commercial sponsorship of the arts). Schulze’s depiction of a state fostering a premodern relationship with art was not, however, universally welcomed. On the night of his speech, Thüringen’s state secretary for culture, professor Walter Bauer-Wabnegg, is reported to have expressed his extreme displeasure by waving his finger angrily at the author as soon as his speech was over, and Bauer-Wabnegg’s public castigation of Schulze was not limited to the occasion of the prize-giving.