Klaus Ebner

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Klaus Ebner (2008)
Klaus Ebner (2008)

Klaus Ebner (August 8, 1964 in Vienna) is an Austrian writer, essayist, poet, and translator. Having published articles and books on software topics since 1989, Ebner contributed to early literary fiction in magazines in the 1980s. His first collection of short stories was printed in 2007. Ebner writes poetry in German and in Catalan; he also translates French and Catalan literature into German. Several of his most utilized themes include multiculturalism and tolerance, and in numerous essays he discusses Catalan culture. He is a member of several Austrian writers' associations, including the Grazer Autorenversammlung.

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[edit] Life

Klaus Ebner was born on August 8, 1964 in Vienna, Austria. His mother, Ingeborg (b. 1944), worked as a hairdresser and his father, Walter (1939-1996), was a salesman who sold home entertainment products in the 1970s and later. Ebner grew up in a bourgeois middle-class family in Vienna's third district.[1] His sister was born in 1969. One year later, the family moved to Vienna's twentieth, and slightly more working-class oriented, district. For eight years he attended high school in the neighboring second district in Vienna. His first writing experiences date back to this time; at the age of twelve he wrote a short theater play and rehearsed it with his comrades at school - however, the play was never performed. Much of his leisure time was dedicated to reading science fiction and world literature. He was also interested in language and culture.[1]

In 1982, after one month university trip to Tours, France, Ebner began studying Romance languages, German philology and translation at the University of Vienna. His studies included translation to and from German, French and Italian. At the German philology department he learned some Yiddish and became acquainted with Jewish culture. At this time he was already working for a literary circle and Viennese literature magazine.[2] Eventually he concentrated on various professional careers, such as translation,[3] foreign language teaching and IT projects.[4] In the 1990s, Ebner published articles and books on software and networking topics; while these books were written in German,[5] he also wrote some articles in English.[6] In 1999, he spent six weeks in North Carolina and was the co-author of a book in English about PC servers;[7] the other team members came from the U.S. and Italy.

In 2001, while studying European economy at a Viennese university of applied sciences, he authored a paper about islamism in Europe, which was published eventually in Germany.[8] The author's interest in Arabic and Muslim civilizations is reflected in several stories, such as in Momentaufnahme (Snapshot) and Flug sechs-zwo-zwo (Flight six-two-two)[9], orgiastisch (orgiastic)[10] and others. The university of applied sciences also provided him with basic knowledge in Russian.[1]

Ebner has three children and exclusively speaks French with them in order to raise them bilingual. He still lives and works in Vienna and is a member of the Austrian Writers' Associations Grazer Autorenversammlung (GAV)[11] and Österreichischer Schriftstellerverband (ÖSV).

[edit] Work

Destinies, short stories
Destinies, short stories

Since graduation from school, Ebner has written short prose, poetry and radio plays. He typically publishes his work in literary and cultural magazines such as Sterz, one of the largest literary magazine from Styria, Austria, and in Lesezirkel, which was owned by the Viennese daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung. He is highly interested in Catalan language and culture; the topic of his university graduation paper from 1989, written in French, is titled The image of the Catalan Countries in French literature from Romanticism till today. Excerpts of a Catalan Diary were published in 1987.[12]

Due to having to find other work after the birth of his first son in 1987, Ebner's literary activities slowed drastically. During the 1990s he published few works but instead began to work on his novel Feuer's Geraun. Two chapters were published in early versions by the Upper Austrian magazine die Rampe in 1994 (Der Schreiber von Aram) and 1997 (Das Gesetz).[13] The story deals with Jewish and biblical traditions, but Ebner personally remains ostensibly neutral due to his own atheist and non-religious convictions.[1]

Ebner began publishing more frequently after 2004.[14] He has written narrative fiction (novel, short story, short prose), essays and poems. His poetry is written in German and Catalan. Supported by a subsidy for literature from the Austrian government, he went to Andorra in 2007 and wrote an essay about the country in the Pyrenees.[15] He also translated the novel L'Absent written by his friend, the Catalan author Josep Navarro Santaeulàlia, into German.[1] Ebner's cultural essays about Catalan culture, e.g. about Barcelona and Andorra, have been published by the magazine Literatur und Kritik.

His first collection of short stories was published in 2007. Lose (Destinies) contains 45 stories; almost twenty of them had already been printed by newspapers, literary magazines or anthologies. In 2008, Ebner published his short story book Auf der Kippe (On the brink).

[edit] Style of writing

Especially the short stories cover a multitude of topics, which, as critic Julia Rafael states, treat actual and socially relevant problems. She describes the stories of Lose as "somewhat imploding stories" and says that "phantasms, irony and humour have their place, too".[16] Moreover, Ebner's metaphors "pass beyond reality without losing ground".[16] Multiculturalism plays an eminent role, shown quite clearly by the second book, a collection of short prose, Auf der Kippe (On the Brink).[17] On May 4, 1986, he wrote in his journal: Running became a torture. I wasn't allowed to stop, I had to move on steadily to ensure the course of events.[18] This theme reoccurs in Fortlauf (Continuation), which tells a similar story.[19]

His writing style is characterized by a very careful and acerbic wording. Each sentence has a melody; his short prose especially sounds lyrical. The journalist Paul C. Jezek compares Ebner's sentences to "Japanese paintings - every word has been chosen with special care".[20]

[edit] Awards and accomplishments

In 1982, Ebner was awarded the Youth Prize for Literature (Großer Österreichischer Jugendpreis) for the novella Das Brandmal (The stigma), which had attracted the attention of Austrian critic and jury member Hans Weigel. Weigel compared Ebner to Austria's 19th century novella writer Ferdinand von Saar.[21] The novella tells the story of a young community servant who through his service gets acquainted with a seemingly bewildered pensioner. Eventually he learns that the old man is a Viennese Jew whose bewilderment is a direct consequence of his experiences during the Third Reich. For the first time in his life, the young community servant learns about Austria's role during World War II and about the concentration camps, about which the old man begins to talk. One year later, the novella was published in several parts in Israel's German newspaper Israel Nachrichten.[22]

In 2007, Ebner was mentioned at the International Poetry Prize Nosside. The jury referred to the "metropolitan tristesse" in the poem which describes a paperman whose "meal consists of loneliness".[23] The verse depicts a homeless person, someone who lives in public parks and owns some paper stuff packed onto an old supermarket caddy:[24]

German
(original poem)		 English
(presented to Nosside by the author)

ein Zettler krank
 vergessen ganz im Suff
 die Wagenräder sperren
 zäh
 sein Mahl besteht aus Einsamkeit
 garniert
 mit Sehnsucht nach Vergangenem
 betört von lauten Rufen
 Hoffnung
 wie vor langem sie
 verlosch

a paperman and sick
 forlorn in drunkenness
 the wheels are blocking
 clumsily
 his meal consists of loneliness
 its garnish
 is the yearning for the past
 beguiled by shouts of thunder
 hope
 that long ago
 has died

In 2008, Ebner was awarded the Wiener Werkstattpreis. The winning short story, Der Flügel Last (The Wings' Burden), describes a seven year old girl who suffers from cancer. The narrative style evokes the child's perspective. The winning essay Was blieb vom Weißen Ritter? (What Remains of the White Knight?) gives some insight into the medieval novel Tirant lo Blanch by Joanot Martorell from Valencia. The author intermingled his own reading experience with philological and historical information.[25]

[edit] Awards and literary prizes

  • 2008 Subsidy for Literature by the Austrian Government
  • 2007 Wiener Werkstattpreis 2007, Vienna
  • 2007 Travel Subsidy by the Austrian Government
  • 2007 "Menzione" at the Premio Internazionale di Poesia Nosside, Reggio Calabria
  • 2005 Feldkircher Lyrikpreis (4th)
  • 2004 La Catalana de Lletres 2004 Mention and publication in the anthology, (Barcelona)
  • 1988 Erster Österreichischer Jugendpreis for the novel Nils
  • 1984 Radio Play Award by the literary magazine Texte (3rd)
  • 1982 Erster Österreichischer Jugendpreis for the novella Das Brandmal/The Stigma

[edit] Books

[edit] Contributions to anthologies (examples)

  • Träume/Dreams; short prose (in German), in: Junge Literatur aus Österreich 85/86, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-215-06096-5
  • Heimfahrt/Coming Home; short story (in German), in: Ohnmacht Kind, Boesskraut & Bernardi, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7004-0660-6
  • Island/Iceland; poem (in German), in: Vom Wort zum Buch, Edition Doppelpunkt, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-85273-056-2
  • Abflug/Departure; short story (in German), in: Gedanken-Brücken, Edition Doppelpunkt, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85273-102-X
  • El perquè de tot plegat/The Reason of All This; poem (in Catalan), in: La Catalana de Lletres 2004, Cossetània Edicions, Barcelona 2005, ISBN 84-9791-098-2
  • Das Begräbnis/The Funeral; short story (in German), in: Kaleidoskop, Edition Atelier, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-902498-01-3
  • Weinprobe/Wine degustation; short story (in German), in: Das Mädchen aus dem Wald, Lerato-Verlag, Oschersleben (FRG) 2006, ISBN 3-938882-14-X
  • Routiniert/Routined; short story (in German), in: Sexlibris, Schreiblust Verlag, Dortmund (FRG) 2007, ISBN 978-3-9808-2781-2
  • Die Stadt und das Meer/The City and the Sea; essay (in German), in: Reisenotizen, FAZ Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3950229943

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Biographical note on the author's official website.
  2. ^ Austrian National Library; entries about the magazine Texte, Vienna 1983-1986.
  3. ^ Ebner, K. and Lorenz, D. (2004): "DNS-Implementierung im Windows-Netzwerk/Implementing DNS on Windows Networks"; page 427, Microsoft Press.
  4. ^ Idem and Credle, R., Ebner, K., Greco, J., and Re Ferrè, M. (1999): "Migrating IBM Netfinity Servers to Microsoft Windows 2000", page X, ITSO Redbook.
  5. ^ The German books were published by Data Becker, Markt & Technik, IWT, TEWI and Microsoft Press between 1989 and 2004.
  6. ^ NT Update, issues 9, 10, 14ff., xephon, London 1999-2002.
  7. ^ Credle, R., Ebner, K., Greco, J., and Re Ferrè, M. (1999): "Migrating IBM Netfinity Servers to Microsoft Windows 2000", page X, ITSO Redbook.
  8. ^ Ebner, K. (2001/2007): "Islamischer Fundamentalismus in der EU/Islamic Fundamentalism in the EU", GRIN Verlag, ISBN 978-3638696982.
  9. ^ Ebner, K. (2007): "Lose", page 133f., Edition Nove.
  10. ^ Ebner, K. (2008): "Auf der Kippe", page 79f., Arovell Verlag.
  11. ^ GAV members' list, entry about Klaus Ebner.
  12. ^ Erste Österreichische Spar-Casse (Ed.), (1987): "Der Erste Österreichische Jugendpreis: Literaturjahr 1987.
  13. ^ die Rampe 2/94 (1994) and 2/97 (1997).
  14. ^ Anthology publication list on the author's official home page www.klausebner.eu, which indicates the respective publishing year.
  15. ^ Ebner, K. (2008): "Auf der Kippe", page 139, Arovell Verlag.
  16. ^ a b Rafael, J.: Critic review about the book Lose, in: Literarisches Österreich nr. 1 (2008), page 27.
  17. ^ E.g. dämonisch/demoniac describes the encounter of two men personalizing islamism and evangelicalism, hanebüchen/preposterous questions fatalism, grotesk/grotesque and xenophil/xenophile attack xenophobism.
  18. ^ Das Laufen wurde zur Qual. Stehenbleiben durfte ich nicht, ich mußte laufen, um den Ablauf des Geschehens zu gewährleisten. In: Ebner, K. (1986): "Lyrisches", page 31, Editions Valain.
  19. ^ Ebner, K. (2007): "Lose", page 75f., Edition Nove.
  20. ^ Seine Zeilen sind wie japanische Malerei: Jedes Wort ist sorgfältig gewählt. Club 1 Magazin nr. 54 (1988), page 11.
  21. ^ Article "Ab nach Frankreich" in: Club 1 Magazin nr. 1/83 (1983), page 10f.
  22. ^ Ebner, K. (1983): Das Brandmal, in: Israel Nachrichten, April issues.
  23. ^ Amoroso, G. (2007): L'immaginario dei poeti del Nosside 2007 e il loro potere di esprimere il mondo, page 41 (Italian), page 49f. (Spanish), p. 56 (Portuguese), ISBN 978-8873511847.
  24. ^ Ebner, K. (2007): a paperman and sick, in: Amato, P. and Salfrán, M. J. (2007): "Nosside 2007", page 113, Città del Sole Edizioni.
  25. ^ Both texts have been published in the Prize Brochure: Schaden, P. (Ed.) (2008): "wordshop x", FZA Verlag.

[edit] External links