Adolf Muschg (born 13 May 1934) is a Swiss writer and professor of literature. Muschg was a member of the Gruppe Olten.

Biography

Adolf Muschg was born in Zollikon, canton of

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

, Switzerland. He studied

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German ...

English studies English studies (usually called simply English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries; it is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which ...

and philosophy at the universities of

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

and earned his doctoral degree with a work about Ernst Barlach. Between 1959 and 1962, he worked as a teacher in Zürich. Different engagements as a teacher followed in (

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

), Japan and the US. From 1970 to 1999 Muschg was professor of German language and literature at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich. He wrote the foreword to Fritz Zorn’s controversial memoirs ''

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

''. The book pointed out the supposedly "cancer-causing" lifestyle of Zurich's wealthy gold coast and provoked a scandal in Switzerland; its author died of cancer before its release. Muschg was also provocative with works like ''Wenn Auschwitz in der Schweiz liegt'' ("If Auschwitz were in Switzerland"). His detractors suggest that Muschg was writing without direct experience. A theme of his newer works is often love in old age. Since 1976 he has been a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin; he is also a member of the

Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur The Academy of Sciences and Literature (german: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, AdW Mainz) is a scientific academy in Mainz, Germany. It was established in 1949 on an initiative of Alfred Döblin. The academy's goal is to s ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

and the

Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. It is seated in Darmstad ...

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. In 2003 he was elected president of the Berlin Academy but left the presidency in December 2005 because of disagreements with the academy's senate about public relations. Muschg lives in Männedorf near Zürich. His estate is archived in the

Swiss Literary Archives The Swiss Literary Archives (SLA - ''Schweizerische Literaturarchiv'') in Bern collects literary estates in all four national languages of Switzerland (German, French, Italian and Romansh language). It is part of the Swiss National Library ...

in Bern.

Awards

* 1968

Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Prize The Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis is a literary award in memory of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. The prize is given annually to up to three recipients by the ''Conrad Ferdinand Meyer-Stiftung'' in Zurich. Laureates *1938 Max Frisch *1939 Franz Fisch ...

* 1974

Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreis The Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreis is a literary prize of Germany in honour of German-born Swiss writer, poet and Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse. The award is presented in Karlsruhe. The prize sum is 15,000 Euros. Previous winners include Martin ...

* 1984

Zürich Literature Prize , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

* 1990 Carl Zuckmayer Medal * 1993

Ricarda-Huch-Preis Ricarda-Huch-Preis is a literary prize of Hesse. It has been awarded by the City of Darmstadt. Winners *1978 Friedrich Luft *1981 Marcel Reich-Ranicki *1984 Siegfried Unseld *1987 Herta Müller *1990 Martin Walser *1993 Adolf Muschg *1996 Alex ...

* 1994

Georg Büchner Prize The Georg Büchner Prize (german: link=no, Georg-Büchner-Preis) is the most important literary prize for German language literature, along with the Goethe Prize. The award is named after dramatist and writer Georg Büchner, author of ''Woyzeck ...

* 1995 Vilenica International Literary Prize * 2001 Grimmelshausen-Preis * 2017 Prize of the Internationale Hermann-Hesse-Gesellschaft

Works

* ''Im Sommer des Hasen'', 1965 * ''Gegenzauber'', 1967 * ''Fremdkörper'', 1968 * ''Rumpelstilz. Ein kleinbürgerliches Trauerspiel'', 1968 * ''Mitgespielt'', 1969 * ''Papierwände'', 1970 * ''Die Aufgeregten von Goethe. Ein politisches Drama'', 1971 * ''Liebesgeschichten'', 1972 * ''Albissers Grund'', crime novel, 1974 * ''Entfernte Bekannte'', 1976 * ''Kellers Abend. Ein Stück aus dem 19. Jahrhundert'', 1976 * ''Noch ein Wunsch'', 1979 * ''Baiyun oder die Freundschaftsgesellschaft'', 1980 * ''Leib und Leben'', 1982 * ''Das Licht und der Schlüssel. Erziehungsroman eines Vampirs'', novel, 1984 * ''Goethe als Emigrant'', 1986 * ''Der Turmhahn und andere Lebensgeschichten'', 1987 * ''Der Rote Ritter. Eine Geschichte von Parzival'', 1993 * ''Herr, was fehlt euch? Zusprüche und Nachreden aus dem Sprechzimmer eines heiligen Grals'', 1994 * ''Nur ausziehen wollte sie sich nicht'', 1995 * ''Die Insel, die Kolumbus nicht gefunden hat. Sieben Gesichter Japans'', 1995 * ''O mein Heimatland!'', 1998 * ''Sutters Glück'', 2001 * ''Das gefangene Lächeln. Eine Erzählung'', 2002 * ''Gehen kann ich allein und andere Liebesgeschichten'', 2003 * ''Der Schein trügt nicht. Ueber Goethe'', 2004 * ''Eikan, du bist spät'', 2005

Other works

* ''Gottfried Keller'', biography, 1977 * ''Wenn Auschwitz in der Schweiz liegt'', 1997

Voice recordings

* ''Baiyun oder die Freundschaftsgesellschaft; Läufer und Brücken – eine unveröffentlichte Erzählung. Ausschnitte aus der Lesung in Hoser's Buchhandlung am 4. Oktober 1979'' (Hoser's Buchhandlung, Stuttgart, ohne Nummer) (1 LP)

Literature

* Judith Ricker-Abderhalden (ed.): ''Über Adolf Muschg''. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1979, . * Renate Voris: ''Adolf Muschg''. C.H. Beck, Munich 1984. . * Manfred Dierks (ed.): ''Adolf Muschg''. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1989, . * Andreas Dorschel: 'Tüchtig nach Hause geleuchtet', in ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. Histo ...

'', nr 103 (5 May 2004), p. 16. *

Rüdiger Schaper Rüdiger Schaper (born 1959) is a German writer, journalist and theatre critic. Life Born in Worms, Schaper lives and works mainly in Berlin and has worked at ''Der Tagesspiegel'' since 1999. There he is head of the feuilleton department. He pr ...

: 'Wer im Glashaus schwitzt. Akademie-Präsident Adolf Muschg gibt auf', in:

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

, nr 19047 (16 December 2005), . * Alexandre Mirlesse: ''En attendant l'Europe (Rencontre avec Adolf Muschg)''. La Contre Allée, Lille 2009, .

References

External links

Literary estate of Adolf Muschg
in the archive database HelveticArchives of the Swiss National Library
Publications by and about Adolf Muschg
in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library
Portrait of the author
by Suhrkamp Verlag
Information by the ETH Zurich
*
Website of Adolf Muschg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muschg, Adolf 1934 births Living people People from Meilen District Swiss writers in German People associated with the University of Zurich ETH Zurich faculty Georg Büchner Prize winners Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin