Travels, Encounters and Decisions

 
Poster for the stage version of Ende’s The Night of Wishes, Brandenburg Theatre (©)

At the beginning of 1990 Michael Ende’s appearance on Wim Thoelke’s Der grosse Preis attracted a large TV audience. The author took the opportunity to talk about his new novel and its eponymous ‘satanarchaeolidealcohellish notion-potion’. He was also invited to Joachim Fuchsberger's talkshow:

1990 was a year of important encounters for Michael Ende. In March NHK, a Japanese TV channel, began work on a series about Einstein in which Michael Ende explained the implications of Einstein’s theories. The series was broadcast in five ninety-minute episodes. July was spent working as a guest lecturer in Madrid, whilst in October Ende participated in a Frankfurt Book Fair symposium chaired by Kenzaburo Oe, who went on to win the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. Meanwhile, an exhibition marking ten years of The Neverending Story was shown in Stuttgart’s municipal library.

In 1990 Peter Boccarius, Michael Ende’s oldest friend, published his biography of the author: Michael Ende. Der Anfang der Geschichte (‘Michael Ende: The Story Begins’). Written from a very personal perspective, the biography covered the years up to the publication of Jim Button and Luke the Engine-Driver in 1960.
The Dream Eater, a musical in seven scenes and six intermezzos, was premiered in Bremen on 17th February 1991. The libretto was written by Michael Ende, and the show was subsequently performed elsewhere. Work on the NHK TV series on Einstein occupied Ende’s time from January to April. The series was later screened in Japan and on Bavarian TV.