Anita Pichler (28 January 1948 – 6 April 1997) was an Italian author and translator from

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

who wrote in German. She was the first post-war author to achieve visibility outside that region.

Life

Pichler was born in

Schenna Schenna (; it, Scena ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located in the Passeier Valley, about northwest of the city of Bolzano. Geography As of 30 November 2010, it had a population of 2,841 and an area of .All d ...

and grew up in Schenna,

Sulden Sulden (; it, Solda ) is a mountain village in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the '' comune'' of Stilfs. Geography Sulden lies at the foot of the Ortler, in the Vinschgau valley east of the Stelvio Pass. It is 1900 m abo ...

and

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

. She went on to study modern languages and literature at the

Ca' Foscari University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from ...

and Slavic studies in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. She received a scholarship to attend

Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiati ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

in 1979. In 1982, Pichler returned to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where she was a lecturer for German at the Ca' Foscari University. She started writing in the 1960, but did not write anything between 1969 and 1978, which she later explained by lack of time. In 1986, Pichler published her first story ''Die Zaunreiterin''. It was published by

Suhrkamp Verlag Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag. In January 2010 the ...

and became the first piece by a modern South Tyrolean author published by a major German publishing house. Originally, the title was ''Haga Zussa'', however, the publishers thought it would be selling worse, and convinced Pichler to change the title. The story was republished post-mortem in 2004 as ''Haga Zussa''. ''Die Zaunreiterin'' was noticed and commented on in German and Austrian media, including, for example,

Marcel Reich-Ranicki Marcel Reich-Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the fi ...

. In the 1990s, Pichler was able to devote more time to writing due to Austrian and Swiss fellowships she received. From 1991 to 1992, she was author in residence for the town of

Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) ...

and, in 1994, was official author for

Innervillgraten Innervillgraten is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the 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 federatio ...

. She moved to

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...

in 1995 after becoming ill and died there two years later at the age of 49. In 2002, she was portrayed in the film ''Anita Pichler - Ich will einfach erzählen''.

Selected work

Writing

* ''Die Zaunreiterin'' (Suhrkamp, 1986) *: Republished as ''Haga Zussa'' (Haymon, 2004) * ''Wie die Monate das Jahr. Suhrkamp'', narrative (1989) * ''Die Frauen aus Fanis'' (1992) * ''Beider Augen Blick. Neun Variationen über das Sehen'' (1995) * ''Flatterlicht. Verstreute und unveröffentlichte Texte'', post-mortem (2007)

Translations (from Italian to German)

* ''Über das Innehalten auf einem Feldweg'' by (1993) * ''Die Steine von Pantalica'' by

Vincenzo Consolo Vincenzo Consolo (18 February 1933 – 21 January 2012) was an Italian writer. Consolo was born in Sant'Agata di Militello, but resided in Milan from 1969 until his death. He began his literary career in 1963, but gained wider attention in 19 ...

(1995)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pichler, Anita 1948 births 1997 deaths People from Merano Germanophone Italian people 20th-century Italian women writers Italian writers in German 20th-century Italian translators