The ego-trip of a German writer (6)
I believe the answer is:
goethe
'a german writer' is the definition.
(johann wolfgang von goethe)
'the ego-trip' is the wordplay.
'trip' indicates an anagram.
'the'+'ego'='theego'
'theego' is an anagram of 'GOETHE'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for goethe that I've seen before include "The ego, strangely, of the German writer" , "German author (Faust)" , "Johann Wolfgang von -, German dramatist" , "German poet, d. 1832" , "Eighteenth to nineteenth century German poet and dramatist (Faust)" .)