Karl-Markus Gauß (born 14 May 1954, in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n contemporary writer, essayist and editor.In one single interview, Gauß by joke characterized himself ''to be an independent scholar.'' The interviewer, not being aware of this allusion to exactly same statement made by some

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, quite a while earlier, wrote so, and Gauß' statement ever since became repeated by other journalists, not being aware either. He lives in Salzburg.

Biography

Gauß has a degree for

German Philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

from the University of Salzburg. He very early published literary essays, primarily in the magazine ''Wiener Tagebuch (Viennese Diary)''. Since 1991, Gauß is editor in chief of the literary magazine ''

Literatur und Kritik The Austrian literary magazine ''Literatur und Kritik'' (''Literature and Critical Reviews'') was founded in April 1966 by the Austrian writers Rudolf Henz, Gerhard Fritsch, and Paul Kruntorad as successor of the literary publication ''Wort in der Z ...

'', published by the Salzburg publishing house Otto Müller Verlag. In addition, he writes articles and essays for Austrian, German and Swiss newspapers and magazines, such as '' Die Zeit'', ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

'', '' Neue Zürcher Zeitung'', ''

Salzburger Nachrichten The ''Salzburger Nachrichten'' is a German language daily newspaper published in Salzburg, Austria. It has been in circulation since 1945. History and profile ''Salzburger Nachrichten'' was established in 1945 by the American forces occupying Au ...

'', and ''

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...

''. In 2006, Karl-Markus Gauß was accepted as member of the German Academy of Language and Poetry.

Works

Primarily, Karl-Markus Gauß writes

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s. One of his main topics are

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

, some of which aren't sometimes known to the readers even by their name, such as the

Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including: * Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name * Arbëresh ...

and the

Sephardim Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

. Other important topics are Central and South Eastern Europe. Gauß visited these countries on several occasions, usually jointly with the photographer Kurt Kaindl. His cultural reports and essays describe cultural encounters and intellectual exchanges with the writers of those countries, but also with people "like me and you", on the streets and in pubs. Gauß uses his books very often to present and promote writers from Central and Eastern Europe, who are relatively unknown in Austria and Germany.

Literary prizes and awards

*1987 International Prize of Portorož for Essays *1988 State Subsidy for Literature by the Austrian Department of Education and Cultural Affairs *1989 Buchprämie des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und Kunst *1992 Subsidy for Literature by the City of

*1994 Buchprämie des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und Kunst *1994 Österreichischer Staatspreis für Kulturpublizistik *1997 European Essay Prize Charles Veillon for ''Das Europäische Alphabet'' *1998 Bruno-Kreisky-Preis for the Political Book for ''Ins unentdeckte Österreich'' *2001 Award of the Austrian Book Sellers for Tolerant Thinking and Acting *2004 René-Marcic-Preis *2005 Manès-Sperber-Preis

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

*2005 Vilenica International Literary Prize *2006

Georg Dehio Book Prize The Georg Dehio Book Prize (''Georg Dehio-Buchpreis'') is a biennial literary award for authors who, "in their literary, scholarly or public work, address the themes of the common culture and history of the German people and their Eastern neighbo ...

*2007 Honorary doctorate in philosophy from

Salzburg University The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg municipality, Salzburg state, named af ...

*2007 Mitteleuropa-Preis *2010

Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Preis Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Preis is a literary prize of Hesse awarded by the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung since 1964. Since 2013 the prize winner receives €20,000. The award is donated by the Merck Group in memory of the German author ...

*2019 Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class,

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian ...

*2022 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding

Bibliography

* ''Im Wald der Metropolen'', Zsolnay Verlag 2010,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

* ''Zu früh, zu spät'', Zsolnay Verlag 2007, Vienna * ''Die versprengten Deutschen. Unterwegs in Litauen, durch die Zips und am Schwarzen Meer''.

Paul Zsolnay Verlag Paul Zsolnay Verlag is an Austrian publishing company. Overview The company was created in 1923 by Paul Zsolnay.Hall, Murray G.: “Publishers and Institutions in Austria, 1918–45”, pp. 79–80. ''A History of Austrian Literature 1918–2000' ...

, Vienna 2005 * ''Wirtshausgespräche in der Erweiterungszone''. Otto Müller Verlag,

2005 * ''Die Hundeesser von Svinia''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2004 * ''Von nah, von fern. Ein Jahresbuch''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2003 * ''Mit mir, ohne mich. Ein Journal''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2002 * ''Die sterbenden Europäer. Unterwegs zu den Sepharden von Sarajevo, Gottscheer Deutschen, Arbëreshe, Sorben und Aromunen''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2001 * ''Der Mann, der ins Gefrierfach wollte. Albumblätter''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1999 * ''Ins unentdeckte Österreich. Nachrufe und Attacken''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1998 * ''Das europäische Alphabet''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1997 * ''Ritter, Tod und Teufel. Essay''. Wieser Verlag,

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

1994 * ''Die Vernichtung Mitteleuropas. Essays''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1991 * ''Der wohlwollende Despot. Über die Staatsschattengewächse – Essay''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1989 * ''Tinte ist bitter. Literarische Porträts aus Barbaropa – Essays''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1988 * ''Wann endet die Nacht. Über

Albert Ehrenstein Albert Ehrenstein (23 December 1886 – 8 April 1950) was an Austrian-born German Expressionist poet. His poetry exemplifies rejection of bourgeois values and fascination with the Orient, particularly with China. He spent most of his life in B ...

– ein Essay''. Edition Moderne, Zurich 1986

References

External links

Publisher Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg

Publisher Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt

Publisher Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna

Literary Award: Georg Dehio-Buchpreis 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauss, Karl-Markus Austrian essayists Writers from Salzburg 1954 births Living people