Gerold Späth (born 16 October 1939 in

Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

author, poet and writer.

Life and career

Born 1939 in

on the ''Obersee'' lakeshore in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland, the son of an organ builder made his studies in London and Fribourg, after a training as an export clerk. Later, he worked in his father's company ''Späth Orgelbau'' in Rapperswil. Thereafter, Gerold Späth undertook several trips and a longer stay in Ireland. Gerold Späth lives and writes mainly in Rapperswil. Rapperswil - Giessi 2010-10-29 16-39-02

Gerold Späth's three central works are thematically connected: "Unschlecht" (1970), "Balzapf oder als ich auftauchte" (1977) and "Barbarswila" (1988), in which Rapperswil gave model to the fictitious localities ''Spiessbünzen'', ''Molchgüllen'' and ''Barbarswila'', the satirical depictions of a typical Swiss small-town. A new narrative form was introduced with ''Commedia'' (1980), in a certain way basing on ''

Dante's Inferno ''Inferno'' (; Italian for ' Hell') is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century narrative poem '' The Divine Comedy'', followed by and . The ''Inferno'' describes the journey of a fictionalised version of Dante himsel ...

'', for which Späth was awarded with the German book prize Alfred-Döblin-Preis. Späth's literally cosmos is characterized by love, lust and vices, and a propensity to the blazing sensuality and baroque awareness of the transience of everything earthly. He dominates all the stops by the comical and humorous to the tragic. Tales of Späth's home town of Rapperswil and the region around ''Zürichsee'' form a central motif of his work. The Swiss films ''Der Landvogt von Greifensee'' (1979) and ''Völlerei oder Inselfest'' (1980) base on Gerold Späth's novels. Gerold Späth's novels and short stories were translated in various languages, inter alia by Alice Ceresa the Italian-language edition of the novel "Unschlecht" (Italian: ''L'incredibile storia di Johann il Buono'') in 1977. Gerold Späth's self-image as author is palpable to his organ builder family, as he told on occasion of a dramatic reading: ''it's important that an organ will still be in 200 years a good organ''. This results in a great care in writing, which he ironically called ''team inability''. He wants no lecturer, independence in writing is the most important. Also of great importance to his literary works are the different residences – Rapperswil, Ireland and Italy – ''life abroad is deteriorating views of Switzerland''. Anyway, Switzerland and his childhood in Rapperswil, which Gerold Späth compares with Mark Twain's '' Tom Sawyer'' and ''

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

'', as he grew up with the so-called ''Seebuebedütsch'' (Zürichsee children language, meaning also 'wild') and to ''write on the people's mouth''. His 'staff' is reduced to four family members, among them his wife Christine Lötscher.

Work

Books (excerpt)

* 1979: ''Unschlecht''. Arche, Zürich 1970, ASIN B002PDE5W4. * 1979: ''Commedia''. Fischer, Berlin 1980, . * 1991: ''Stilles Gelände am See''. Suhrkamp, Berlin 1991, . * 2013: ''Drei Vögel im Rosenbusch. Eine Erzählung''. Lenos, Basel 2013, ASIN B00J7KDOM0.

Poems (excerpt)

* 2005: ''Hebed Sorg''. In: '' Ufnau – Insel der Stille'', Rapperswil 2005.

Filmographie

* 1980: ''Völlerei oder Inselfest'' (''Todsünde 4'') * 1979: ''The Bailiff of Greifensee'' (''Der Landvogt von Greifensee'')

Awards

* 1970: Award of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer-Stiftung * 1970: Werkjahr der Stadt Zürich * 1972: Werkjahr Pro Helvetia (as well in 1991 and 1997) * 1973: Werkjahr Stiftung Schweizerische Landesausstellung * 1975: Werkjahr Kanton Zürich * 1977: Anerkennungsgabe''Anerkennungsgabe'' may be comparable to an institutional tribute. der Stadt Zürich (and in 1984) * 1979: Anerkennungsgabe Kanton St. Gallen * 1979: Alfred-Döblin-Preis for ''Commedia'' * 1980: DAAD-Stipendiat in Berlin * 1980/1981: Istituto Svizzero Roma scholarship * 1983: Award of Schweizerische Schillerstiftung (and in 1992) * 1983: Premio stampa internazionale della città di Roma * 1984: Georg Mackensen-Literaturpreis * 1987: Hörspielpreis Stiftung "Radio Basel" * 1990: Preis für Schweizer Theatermacher * 2001: Ehrengabe der Stadt Zürich * 2004: Werkbeitrag Pro Helvetia

Literature

* Charlotte E. Aske: ''Gerold Späth und die Rapperswiler Texte. Untersuchungen zu Intertextualität und kultureller Identität''. Lang, Bern 2002, . * Klaus Isele, Franz Loquai (Hrsg.): ''Gerold Späth''. Edition Isele, Eggingen 1993, .

References

External links

*
Gerold Späth on the website of the Swiss television SRF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spath, Gerold 1939 births Living people Swiss male poets People from Rapperswil-Jona Swiss male novelists 20th-century Swiss poets 20th-century Swiss male writers 20th-century Swiss novelists Swiss poets in German 21st-century Swiss poets 21st-century Swiss novelists 21st-century Swiss male writers