Departures of note

Joseph von Westphalen was a German writer and columnist known for his light-footed satirical novels and indignant glosses. Born in 1945 as a descendant of an old East Westphalian noble family, he studied German literature and worked as an editor at the cultural magazine Westermanns Monatshefte before being noticed by the editors of Transatlantik, the magazine founded by Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

In Transatlantik he created the figure Harry von Duckwitz, a bon vivant and diplomat who became the hero of several of his novels. His literary works were society satires, and his essay collections bore provocative titles such as Warum ich Monarchist geworden bin and Warum ich Terrorist geworden bin. In 1987 he caused a small scandal with a German-German correspondence with East German author Monika Maron.

Over the following years he was a sought-after columnist for numerous outlets, including Die Woche, Theater heute, SPIEGEL SPECIAL and, in more than 300 installments, Munich's Abendzeitung. In 1997 he hosted his own television show, Dichtung und Wahnsinn, on Southwest German television. A jazz lover, he also compiled a four-CD jazz box with accompanying book for the Kein & Aber publishing house.