Overview

• Pörksen was widely credited with shaping debates on how political discourse and scientific terminology are used in public life.
• His best-known works include Plastikwörter: Die Sprache einer internationalen Diktatur and Die politische Zunge: Eine kurze Kritik der öffentlichen Rede.
• He taught as professor of German language and older literature at the University of Freiburg.
• He held memberships in the Academy for Language and Literature and the PEN Center Germany.
• Born in Breklum, he studied German, history, and philosophy in Freiburg, Göttingen, and Kiel, and also published novels such as Weißer Jahrgang and Schauinsland.