 In 2009, he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts as well as the Great Cross of Merit with Star by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany.He is a member of various Academies of Arts and Sciences, including the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, the Akademie der Künste of Berlin, and the Sächsische Akademie Dresden.In 1997, he was a Fellow at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.