Hermann Burger
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Hermann Burger (10 July 1942 – 28 February 1989) was a
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
,
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
and
essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
. In his creative works Burger often focused on society's lonely outsiders and, increasingly, the inevitability of death. His virtuosity in applying literary styles and use of thorough
research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
are significant features of many of his publications.


Life

Hermann Burger was born in 1942 in
Menziken Menziken is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Kulm (district), Kulm in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. On 1 January 2023 the former municipality of Burg, Aargau, Burg merged to form the m ...
, Switzerland; his father worked for an insurance company. He enrolled at the
ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...
in 1962 and began studying architecture, but switched to German literature and art history in 1964. The publication of the poetry collection " Rauchsignale" ("Smoke Signals") in 1967 marked the beginning of his literary career, followed by the prose collection '' Bork'' in 1970. For the next couple of years Burger focused on his career in literary studies, writing his
thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
on
Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; born Paul Antschel; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor, and literary translation, literary translator. He adopted his pen name (an anagram of the Romanian spelling Ancel ...
and his habilitation treatise on contemporary
Swiss literature As there is no dominant national language, the Languages of Switzerland, four main languages of French language, French, Italian language, Italian, German language, German and Romansh language, Romansh form the four branches which make up a l ...
. He taught at universities in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
,
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
and
Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...
and worked as a literary editor for the Aargauer Tagblatt. His academic experience is reflected in the loosely autobiographical novel "
Die künstliche Mutter Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
" ("The Artificial Mother") which won him the
Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis 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 Zürich. Laureates *1938 Max Frisch *1939 Franz Fische ...
in 1980. It was dedicated to his wife and its first edition has the dedication ''"Für Anne Marie"''. Burger's first major novel " Schilten. Schulbericht zuhanden der Inspektorenkonferenz" ("Schilten. School Report for the Attention of the Inspectors' Conference") was published in 1976 and made into a movie by Swiss film director Beat Kuert in 1979. It is about a teacher who has to tell the conference of inspectors about the development of his pupils, but speaks about death cult, graveyards and burials in a very detailed way. Archetypes of this novels are
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
and
Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era. He explored themes of death, iso ...
. Burger mixes reality and fiction, and the more one reads about him, the more one finds out, that Burger writes about himself, his own suffering. He won the
Ingeborg Bachmann Prize The Festival of German-Language Literature () is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of awards are given, the major one being the Ingeborg B ...
in 1985 for his story " Die Wasserfallfinsternis von Badgastein" ("The Waterfall-Eclipse of Badgastein"). 1988, a changing of publishers from S. Fischer to
Suhrkamp Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and is 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, ...
took place in a spectacular way. The novel ''Brenner'' (in two volumes, four were planned), shows a protagonist wrapped in cigar smoke, who tells his life - Burger himself was a cigar smoker and descendant of cigar producers. Volume 1 has 25 chapters, like a cigar box contains 25 cigars. Each chapter's name contains the name of a famous cigar brand. The second chapter announces the author's suicide intention: a red Ferrari is bought, because saving money no longer makes sense. It is about the divorce and the grief about having no contact to his two kids. Burger's last lessor was emeritus historian Jean Rudolf von Salis (= "Jérôme von Castelmur-Bondo" in the novel). The last months of Burger's life and a review on his 46 years are described detailed in this
roman a clef Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
, he describes all coining persons. Burger's depressive and desperate moods grew with his literary acclaim, leading him to write the " Tractatus logico-suicidalis" (1988), a collection of
aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
s advocating
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
. The 1046 aphorisms are about the sentence ''"Gegeben ist der Tod, bitte finden Sie die Lebensursache heraus."'' (Death is given, please find the cause of life.) The title remembers
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...
's ''
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus The ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (widely abbreviated and Citation, cited as TLP) is the only book-length philosophical work by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that was published during his lifetime. The project had a broad goal ...
''. The book about suicide was viewed by the critics with sarcasm, and the seriousness of his suicide plans were not recognized. On 28 February 1989 he committed suicide in
Brunegg Brunegg is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Brunegg is first mentioned in first half of the 12th century as ''Bruneco''. In 1273 it was mentioned as ''Brunegge''. Brunegg castle was b ...
by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Not until Burger's death did the critics see similarities to
Jean Améry Jean Améry (31 October 191217 October 1978), born Hans Chaim Maier, was an Austrian-born essayist whose work was often informed by his experiences during World War II. His most celebrated work, ''At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Surviv ...
and his book ''On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death'', which Burger knew. Burger's early promoter
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 f ...
, literature critic, wrote on 3 March 1989, few days after his death, in an obituary:
Hermann Burger was an artist who gave everything of himself, never held back. He was a man with a great longing for happiness. German literature has lost one of its most inventive literary artists.
His work—mainly prose—was coined by very precise investigation. He e.g. has sworn the magic oath because he wanted to write about a magician (in ''Diabelli''). The oath created a fascinating new challenge for him: Describing Diabelli's tricks without breaking the oath. Burger was very faithful in linguistic matters, too. When he was young and wanted to build his style of writing, he did copy passages out of literature (e.g. by
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
) and filled their syntax with new content. The protagonists of his novels and narrations try to describe the situation of their lives in a way that is linguistically virtuosic and in love with details. Those protagonists mostly are diseased and the receiver of their texts is very often a higher authority, e.g. the "Inspektorenkonferenz" (inspector's conference) in "Schilten" (1976). Hermann Burger's literary 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 op ...
in Bern.


Selected bibliography

*'' Rauchsignale'' (1967) poems *'' Bork'' (1970) prose pieces *'' Schilten. Schulberichtzuhanden der Inspektorenkonferenz'' (1976) monologue *''
Diabelli Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote ...
'' (1979, stories). ''Diabelli'', trans. Adrian Nathan West (Wakefield Press, 2025) *'' Kirchberger idyllen'' (1980) poems *''
Die Künstliche Mutter Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
'' (1982) novel *'' Ein Mann aus Wörtern'' (1983) *'' Die allmähliche Verfertigung der Idee beim Schreiben'' (1986) *''Blankenburg'' (1986) stories *''
Als Autor auf der Stör Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...
'' (1987) *'' Der Schuss auf die Kanzel. Eine Erzählung'' (1988) *''
Tractatus logico-suicidalis. Über die Selbsttötung ''Tractatus'' is Latin for "treatise". It may refer to: * ''Tractatus de amore'' by Andreas Capellanus * ''Tractatus Astrologico Magicus'', also known as the'' Aldaraia'' and the ''Book of Soyga'', a 16th-century Latin treatise on magic * ''Trac ...
'' (1988). ''Tractatus Logico-Suicidalis: On Killing Oneself'', trans. Adrian Nathan West (Wakefield Press, 2022) *''Brenner. Band 1: Brunsleben'' (1989). ''Brenner'', trans. Adrian Nathan West (Archipelago Books, 2022) *''Brenner. Band 2: Menzenmang'' (1992, posthumous)


Awards

* 1977 – Award of the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung for ''Schilten'' * 1980 –
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (11 October 1825 – 28 November 1898) was a Swiss poet and historical novelist, a master of literary realism who is mainly remembered for stirring narrative ballads like "Die Füße im Feuer" (The Feet in the Fire). Biog ...
-Award * 1983 –
Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...
-Award of Bad Homburg for ''Die künstliche Mutter'' * 1984 – Aargau Literature Award * 1985 –
Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (; 25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. She is regarded as one of the major voices of German-language literature in the 20th century. In 1963, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature b ...
-Award for ''Die Wasserfallfinsternis von Badgastein, ein Hydrotestament in fünf Sätzen'' (in: ''Blankenburg'') * 1986 – Work order of the Stiftung ''
Pro Helvetia The foundation Pro Helvetia is a public foundation of Switzerland, which supports artists, promotes Swiss culture and art abroad. It is responsible for major international cultural event exhibitions. The foundation promotes cultural dialogue of t ...
'' * 1988 – "Gesamtwerkspreis" of the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung


References


External links

* *
Profile Burger Hermann
* http://hermann_burger.know-library.net/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20060803050834/http://www.svbbpt.ch/Literatur/deutsch/treschT12.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Hermann 1942 births 1989 deaths People from Kulm District Swiss poets in German Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winners Swiss male poets 20th-century Swiss poets 20th-century Swiss male writers 1989 suicides Drug-related suicides in Switzerland ETH Zurich alumni