About the Author

Herbert Rosendorfer

Herbert Rosendorfer, born in Gries/Bozen in 1934, moved to Munich with his parents in 1939. After graduating from high school, he spent a year at the Academy of Fine Arts before switching to law. He passed his First State Examination in 1959 and his Second State Examination in 1963. He served as an assessor at the public prosecutor's office in Bayreuth, a public prosecutor in Munich, a district judge in Munich from 1969 to 1993, and a judge at the Higher Regional Court in Naumburg until 1997. In 1990, he was appointed professor of Bavarian literary history; in 1993, he received the Kurd Laßwitz Prize; and in 1999, he was awarded the Jean Paul Prize, the highest literary award of the Free State of Bavaria. In 2005, he was honored with the Munich Literature Prize for his extensive body of work, and at Corine 2010, he received the Honorary Award of the Bavarian Minister President for his life's work. Over two million copies of his "Letters to the Chinese Past" were sold. Herbert Rosendorfer passed away on September 20, 2012.