Urs Widmer
Urs Widmer | |
|---|---|
 Urs Widmer in April 2012 | |
| Born | 21 May 1938 Basel, Switzerland |
| Died | 2 April 2014 (aged 75) |
| Occupation | Novelist, essayist, playwright |
| Language | German |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Period | 1968–2013 |
| Notable awards |
|
Urs Widmer (21 May 1938 – 2 April 2014) was a Swiss novelist, playwright, an essayist, and a short story writer.[1][2]
Biography
[edit]Widmer was born in Basel in 1938, and for many years lived in Zurich.[1] Widmer studied German, French, and history at the universities of Basel and Montpellier.[1] After completing his PhD, he worked briefly as an editor at Suhrkamp Verlag, but left the publishing house during the Lektoren-Aufstand ("Editors' Revolt") of 1968.[1]
In 2014, Roman Bucheli, Literary Editor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, said that Widmer:
- "is without doubt one of the most significant and versatile talents currently at work in the field of contemporary German-language literature as well as one of the most successful. His sales are invariably in the high five-figure bracket"[1]
Works in English translation
[edit]- My mother's lover ("Der Geliebte meiner Mutter"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2011], ISBN 978-1-906-49796-5.
- My father's book ("Das Buch des Vaters"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2011], ISBN 978-0-857-42017-6.
- On life, death, and this and that of the rest. The Frankfurt lectures on poetics ("Vom Leben, vom Tod und vom Übrigen auch dies und das"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2013], ISBN 978-0-857-42100-5.
- The blue soda siphon ("Der blaue Siphon"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2014], ISBN 978-0-857-42211-8.
- In the Congo ("Im Kongo"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2015], ISBN 978-0-857-42315-3.
- Mr Adamson ("Herr Adamson"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2015], ISBN 978-0-857-42232-3.
Awards and honors
[edit] |
- 1977 Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden, Fernsehabend
- 1992 Preis der SWR-Bestenliste
- 1997 Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis, Top Dogs
- 1998 Heimito von Doderer Prize
- 2001 Bertolt Brecht Literature Prize
- 2002 Großer Literaturpreis der Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste[1]
- 2013 Friedrich Hölderlin Prize[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Roman Bucheli (Spring 2014). "Deviation From The Norm, or The Realistic Fantast". New Books in German. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ^ Roman Bucheli (3 April 2014). "Der Schriftsteller Urs Widmer gestorben". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 3 April 2014.
