His breakthrough came in 1997 with Weiberroman (Novel of Women) and in 2008 with his cruise ship satire In 180 Tagen um die Welt (Around the World in 180 Days).

His lifetime passion to travel to foreign countries also influences his perception of his own culture, and provides a source of new ideas for his writing.

[3] Politycki has completed numerous book tours, including at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference in August 2012 and the Belfast Festival at Queen's in October 2014.

His dissertation on Nietzsche as a subtle interpreter of the influence of tradition and contemporary value-ideals was entitled Umwertung aller Werte?

[6] Politycki taught for three semesters as a tenured assistant professor at the Munich Institut für Deutsche Philologie.

He encouraged dialogue among writers, literary editors and critics as organizer of the annual "Untitled" conferences from 2000 to 2005 at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps.

[9] After Weiberroman in 1997, Politycki acknowledged his identity as a writer from the "Generation of 1978" (Reinhard Mohr) that he distinguished from the 1968 Movement with its strong protest tradition.

[11] After five months in the Caribbean, his constant quest to explore the experience of a clash between familiar and foreign cultures emerged in his 2005 Cuba novel, Herr der Hörner (Lord of the Horns).

Ten years after his best-selling Weiberroman, Politycki matched its success with his 2008 picaresque novel In 180 Tagen um die Welt.

[13] His Next World Novella gives a poignant insight into the mind of his protagonist, an expert in Chinese studies Hinrich Schepp.

Schepp's story begins with the discovery that his wife, Doro, suffered a fatal stroke while editing his manuscript.

However, he realizes, too late, that her eloquent criticisms of his forgotten manuscript also bring to light her hidden perception of their married life.

As critic Rebecca Morrison explains, Politycki "leavens his grim tale with playful teasing of his reader's expectations".

The novel evolves a dark dystopia of the free West on the brink of collapse due to the aggression of Greater-Russia and the fundamentalist alliances of the Caliph of Baghdad.

"[16] Among Politycki's literary role models – Laurence Sterne, Diderot, Gottfried Benn and Vladimir Nabokov – he recently acknowledged Ernest Hemingway as an important influence for the "simplicity and reduction" of his own writing style.

He has voiced his view of the novel in German literature as an orientation map to the world in Relevanter Realismus, published as Was soll der Roman?

In 1996–1997, he went on tour with Robert Gernhardt and their common lyrical program Wein, Weib und Gesang (Wine, Women and Song); in 2004–2005 he joined Hellmuth Opitz and Steffen Jacobs with Frauen.

[21] Politycki's collected poetry edition Sämtliche Gedichte 2017–1987 was awarded NDR Book of the Month in June 2018.

Matthias Politycki's first novel Aus Fälle / Zerlegung des Regenbogens won the Civitas-Literaturpreis in 1987 and the Bayerischer Staatsförderpreis for literature in 1988.