Markus Werner

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Markus Werner (December 27, 1944 in Eschlikon, canton of Thurgau) is a Swiss writer, the author of Zündels Abgang (Zündel’s Departure).

1 Life
2 Performances
3 Awards
4 Works
5 Literature
6 Weblinks

[edit] Life

Markus Werner was born in Eschlikon (canton of Thurgau). In 1948 the family moved to Thayngen (canton of Schaffhausen). There Werner frequented school and did the general qualification for university entrance in 1965. Afterwards, he studied German studies, Philosophy and Psychology at the university of Zürich and promo did his doctor’s degree in 1974 with a work about Max Frisch, which writing has an important influence on Werner. From 1975 to 1985, he was main teacher, from 1985 to 1990 assistant professor at the Kantonsschule (= grammar school) in Schaffhausen. Since 1990 he’s a free writer. Werner today lives in Schaffhausen.

[edit] Performances

The protagonists of Werner’s novels, have quitted their jobs. Out of their eyes view, Werner laconically describes everyday life astaunished, with distress and with humour. The result are a lot of strictly calculated scenes and episodes, in which the course of the world appears in too sharp and sometimes laughable details, that Werner’s protagonists can’t deal with. Just this seemingly harmless everyday perfidies let them break down: the deaf ears of their fellow men, their cold, headstrong souls. Human deficiencies are described in a tragicomical way. Werner sees the self-evident as something strange, is astaunished and wonders like a child. His protagonists want the right to make failures and have deficiencies (“self-assuredness ist the sign of the yokel”, in: Die kalte Schulter, a Chinese saying). They crave for love, but at the same time curse the world, their fellow men and theirselfes.

[edit] Awards

1984 Price of the Jürgen Ponto-foundation
1984 and 1993 singular work prices of the Swiss Schiller foundation
1986 Georg-Fischer-Price of the city Schaffhausen
1990 Alemannic Literaturpreis
1993 Thomas Valentin-Literature price
1995 Prix littéraire Lipp; International Bodensee-Literature price
1997 Price of the SWR-best-of-list
1999 Hermann Hesse-price
2000 Joseph Breitbach-price
2002 Johann Peter Hebel-price of Baden-Württemberg
2005 complete work price of the Swiss Schiller foundation
2006 Bodensee-Literature price of the city Überlingen

[edit] Works

Bilder des Endgültigen, Entwürfe des Möglichen. Zum Werk Max Frischs, Univ. Diss. 1974 (literally: “pictures of the definitive. Scripts of the possible. About Max Frisch’s work”)
Zündels Abgang, novel, 1984, ISBN 3-7017-1385-5 ("Zündel’s Departure")
Froschnacht, novel, 1985, ISBN 3-7017-0424-4, ISBN 3-423-11250-6 (literally: „frog night“)
Die kalte Schulter, novel, 1989, ISBN 3-423-11672-2 (literally: „the cold shoulder“)
Bis bald, novel, 1992, ISBN 3-7017-0758-8, ISBN 3-423-12112-2 (2005/2006 in the book series Schweizer Bibliothek) (literally: „au revoir“)
Festland, novel, 1996, ISBN 3-7017-0969-6, ISBN 3-423-12529-2 (literally: „mainland“)
Der ägyptische Heinrich, novel, 1999, ISBN 3-7017-1174-7, ISBN 3-423-12901-8 (literally: „the Egypt Heinrich“)
Am Hang, novel, 2004, ISBN 3-10-091066-4 (literally: „near the cliff“)

[edit] Literature

«Allein das Zögern ist human.» About Markus Werner’s works. Publisher.: Martin Ebel. Frankfurt am Main, 2006 (=FTB 16908), ISBN 978-3-596-16908-5. contains unpublished texts of Markus Werner.