Silvio Blatter

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Silvio Blatter (* January 25, 1946 in Bremgarten, canton Aargau) is a Swiss writer.

Contents

[edit] Life

Silvio Blatter was born into a working-class family in 1946. He frequented school on the “Bezirksschule”-level in his hometown, and from 1962 to 1966 the teacher’s seminar in Wettingen, canton Aargau. Afterwards, he was a primary school teacher - during six years - in Aarau, the capital of canton Aargau. 1970 he worked in a company of the metalworking industry. In 1972 he began his college education at the University of Zurich in literature and language studies, matriculating after six semesters. In 1974 he found employ as a machinist in the plastics industry. In 1975 he completed a schooling for directors of audio plays, at the Swiss Broadcast (Schweizer Radio DRS – part of SRG SSR idée suisse) After long stays in Amsterdam and Husum, he settled in Zürich as a free writer. Currently, he resides in Oberglatt (canton Zurich).

[edit] Performances

In his early works Silvio Blatter, who mostly writes prose, describes everyday life and monotony of industrial work in a very haunting and detailed manner The author became known due to his so-called Freiamt-Trilogie (“Freiamt trilogy”) that includes the following novels, that occur in Blatter’s home region that is called "Freiamt" (a certain part of Aargau):

  • Zunehmendes Heimweh (literally: „Increasing Homesickness“)
  • Kein schöner Land (literally: „No beautiful land“. Note: The German title stems from an old fixed phrase, that uses “Land” with a male article, although the neuter article would be the correct today.)
  • Das sanfte Gesetz (literally: „The soft Law“)

These thick books paint a wide picture of the Freiamt region and its inhabitants. They partially are some kind of realistic family novel: In “Das sanfte Gesetz” e.g., he portrays four generations of the fictional family Wolf, a family of enterprisers. The family gets shocked by a lot of – real life possible - tragedy: Car crash necessitating leg amputation, someone getting accidentally shot by police and the son loves his young stepmother, that gets pregnant and the reader doesn’t know by whom. In another volume of the trilogy, a little boy observes, how live handgrenades get stolen from a small Swiss army depot at a drill ground/shooting range.

Blatter’s narrative style is very realistic and modern, e.g. Blatter mentions the boy playing Nintendo “Game & Watch” handheld games, or cites names of pop songs and singers (Herbert Grönemeyer, Level 42 and others) and even He-Man from Masters of the Universe plays a role (The child discusses about religion with a nun and compares He-Man with Jesus, coming to the childish conclusion, that Jesus, who was a “transformer”, wouldn’t have a chance against his enemies, when he – after the Christian belief - becomes man in Judgment Day. Man’s body was weak because it was of flesh, so Jesus shall stay a roadside granite sculpture.)

Despite the realistic style, that is nearly photographic, some of Blatter’s books contain a slight trace of “everyday magic”, that Blatter seemingly doesn’t want destroy. In “Das sanfte Gesetz” there e.g. is a the totemist thinking of Nina, the mysterious nun and the great-grandfather talking to his donkeys, morsing light beams into space. Even Blatter himself, sometimes seems to describe life in esoteric breathed on terms, when he tries to explain his complex “soft law”, but he stays real.

During the 1990s, Blatter nearly totally stopped writing, because he addicted more and more to painting. Since 2000, writing and painting again have the same importance for him.

Silvio Blatter is a member of the Swiss German PEN-Centre (from 1984 to 1986 he was chairman) and of the club "Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz".

[edit] Awards and tributes

  • 1972 Assisting price of Zürich city
  • 1974 Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis
  • 1978 Assisting price of Zürich city
  • 1979 Price of the “Neue Literarische Gesellschaft”

[edit] Books

  • Brände kommen unerwartet, Zürich 1970 (literally: „Burnings come unexpected“)
  • Eine Wohnung im Erdgeschoß, Aarau 1970 (literally: „A flat on ground floor“)
  • Schaltfehler, Zürich 1972 (literally: „Switching Error(s)“)
  • Mary Long, Zürich 1973
  • Nur der König trägt Bart, Zürich 1973 (literally: „Only the King wears a Beard“)
  • Flucht und Tod des Daniel Zoff, Aarau 1974 (literally: „Escape and Death of Daniel Zoff“)
  • Genormte Tage, verschüttete Zeit, Frankfurt am Main 1976 (literally: „Normed days, buried time“)
  • Zunehmendes Heimweh, Frankfurt am Main u.a. 1978 (literally: „Increasing Homesickness“)
  • Love me tender, Frankfurt am Main 1980
  • Die Schneefalle, Zürich u.a. 1981 (literally: „The snow trap“)
  • Kein schöner Land, Frankfurt am Main 1983 (literally: „No beautiful country“)
  • Die leisen Wellen, Zürich 1985, together with Ulrich Anderegg (literally: „The silent waves“)
  • Wassermann, Frankfurt am Main 1986 (literally: „Aquarius“)
  • Das sanfte Gesetz, Frankfurt am Main 1988 (literally: „The soft Law“)
  • Das blaue Haus, Frankfurt am Main 1990 (literally: „The blue House“)
  • Avenue America, Frankfurt am Main u.a. 1992 (literally: „Avenue America“)
  • Der blinde Fleck, Zürich 1992 (literally: „The blind Spot“)
  • Die Glückszahl, Frankfurt am Main 2001 (literally: „The Lucky Number“)
  • Zwölf Sekunden Stille, Frankfurt am Main 2004 (literally: „Twelve Seconds of Silence“)

[edit] Links

Persondata
NAME Blatter, Silvio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silvio Blatter
SHORT DESCRIPTION Swiss writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremgarten
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH