Peter Bichsel (born 24 March 1935) is a popular Swiss writer and journalist representing modern German literature. He was a member of the

Gruppe Olten The Gruppe Olten (Olten Group) was a club of left-wing Swiss writers who convened at Olten's "Bahnhofbuffet" (Swiss expression for a railway station restaurant) located in the canton of Solothurn in the Swiss plateau. It was founded in the aforeme ...

. Bichsel was born 1935 in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, the son of

manual labour Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual'' ...

ers. Shortly after he was born, the Bichsels moved to

Olten Olten (High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zürich, Basel, Bern, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub o ...

, also in Switzerland. After finishing school, he became an elementary school teacher, a job which he held until 1968. From 1974 to 1981 he was the personal advisor and speech writer of

Willy Ritschard Willi Ritschard (sometimes Willy Ritschard; 28 September 1918 – 16 October 1983) was a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party (SP). He is remembered as the first and to date only working class member of the Federal Council, the Swis ...

, a member of the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governme ...

. Between 1972 and 1989 he made his mark as a "writer in residence" and a guest lecturer at American universities. Bichsel has lived on the outskirts of

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

for several decades. He started publishing short lyric works in newspapers. In 1960, he got his first success in prose as a private printer. In the winter of 1963-1964 he took part in writing course in prose taught by

Walter Höllerer Walter Höllerer (19 December 1922 – 20 May 2003) was a German writer, literary critic, and literature academic. He was professor of literary studies at the Technical University of Berlin from 1959 to 1988. Höllerer was a member of the Grou ...

. One of his first and most well-known works is ''And Really Frau Blum Would Very Much Like to Meet the Milkman''. Just as successful, ''Children's Stories'', intended for adults, is written in the form of droll tales for children. Both books were translated from the German by English poet Michael Hamburger. A theme of Bichsel's works for younger readers is the stubborn desire of children to take words literally and wreak havoc on the world of communicated ideas. In the early 1970s and 1980s, Bichsel's journalistic work pushed his literary work mainly into the background. Only ''Der Busant'' (1985) and ''Warten in Baden-Baden'' appeared again with the Bichsel style that was so familiar to German readers. Peter Bichsel gave up being a professional teacher early in his lifetime, yet he has continued to teach his readers that the drudgery and banality of life is of our own making. Conversely, we have every opportunity to prevent our lives from being boring. This theme has helped make Peter Bichsel a symbol of German literary work today. In 1981, he was a member of the jury at the

31st Berlin International Film Festival The 31st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1981. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Spanish film '' Deprisa, Deprisa'' directed by Carlos Saura. The retrospective was dedicated to British film producer Mic ...

. Peter Bichsel's estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Awards

260px, Peter Bichsel´s autograph *1965 Prize of "

Group 47 Gruppe 47 (Group 47) was a group of participants in German writers' meetings, invited by Hans Werner Richter between 1947 and 1967. The meetings served the dual goals of literary criticism as well as the promotion of young, unknown authors. In a de ...

" *1970 Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis *1981/82 Stadtschreiber von Bergen *1996

Mainzer Stadtschreiber The Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award. It is awarded by ZDF, 3sat and the city of Mainz and was founded in 1984. The award is endowed with €12,500. Additionally the laureate receives the right to l ...

*1999

Gottfried-Keller-Preis The Gottfried-Keller-Preis, prix Gottfried-Keller, or premio Gottfried Keller is one of the oldest literary awards of Switzerland. The prize was created by Martin Bodmer and is named after the Swiss author Gottfried Keller. It is awarded every two ...

*200
Prix Européen de l’Essai Charles Veillon
*2000

Kassel Literary Prize The Kassel Literary Prize for Grotesque Humor (''Kasseler Literaturpreis für grotesken Humor''), established 1985, is an annual prize awarded by the city of Kassel and the Brückner-Kühner foundation in recognition of "grotesque and comic work" ...

*2004 Honorary Doctor of Theology,

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

*2005 Work grant by

Pro Helvetia The foundation Pro Helvetia is a public foundation of Switzerland. Presidents *From 1939 to 1943, Heinrich Häberlin. *From 1944 to 1952, Paul Lachenal. *From 1952 to 1964, Jean-Rodolphe de Salis. *From 1965 to 1970, Michael Stettler. *From 1971 ...

*2011

Solothurner Literaturpreis The Solothurner Literaturpreis is a literary award for a literary achievement by a German language writer. Awarded since 1994, the annual prize is 15,000 Swiss francs. It is named after the city of Solothurn in Switzerland. Winners *1994: Monik ...

*2012

Grosser Schillerpreis Grosser or Großer is the masculine nominative singular form of the German adjective "gross", meaning "big", "great", "large", "tall", and the like. It is part of many placenames, especially of mountains. It is also a surname. People with that surn ...

Short story collections

*''Versuche über Gino'' (1960) *''Eigentlich möchte Frau Blum den Milchmann kennenlernen'' (1964) **''And really Frau Blum would very much like to meet the milkman.'' Translated by Michael Hamburger. London, Calder & Boyars (1968) *''Die Jahreszeiten'' (1967) *''Kindergeschichten'' (1969) *''Des Schweizers Schweiz'' (1969) *''Inhaltsangabe der Langeweile'' (Hörspiel, 1971) *''Geschichten zur falschen Zeit'' (Kolumnen, 1979) *''Der Leser'' (1982) *''Schulmeistereien'' (1985) *''Der Busant'' (récits, 1985) *''Irgendwo anderswo'' (1986) *''Möchten Sie Mozart gewesen sein ?'' (1990) *''Im Gegenteil'' (1990) *''Zur Stadt Paris''(1993) **''To the city of Paris.'' Text German/English. Translated by Michael Kuttner. Kolkata, Tarjama (2007) *''Gegen unseren Briefträger konnte man nichts machen.'' (1995) *''Die Totaldemokraten'' (1998) *''Cherubin Hammer und Cherubin Hammer'' (1999) *''Alles von mir gelernt'' (2000) *''Eisenbahnfahren'' (2002) *''Doktor Schleyers isabellenfarbige Winterschule'' (2003) *''Das süsse Gift der Buchstaben''(2004) *''Wo wir wohnen'' (2004) *''Cherubin Hammer und Cherubin Hammer'' (2005) *''Kolumnen, Kolumnen (2005)

References

External links

Literary estate of Peter Bichsel
in the archive database HelveticArchives of the

Swiss National Library The Swiss National Library (german: Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, french: Bibliothèque nationale suisse, it, Biblioteca nazionale svizzera, rm, Biblioteca naziunala svizra) is the national library of Switzerland. Part of the Federal Office ...

.
Publications by and about Peter Bichsel
in the catalogue Helveticat of the

Peter Bichsel
at the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bichsel, Peter 1935 births Living people Swiss writers Swiss male short story writers Swiss short story writers Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin

Awards

Short story collections

Further reading

References

External links