Philipp Weiss (born 5 February 1982 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) is an Austrian writer and playwright. In September 2018, he published his critically acclaimed debut novel, '' Am Weltenrand sitzen die Menschen und lachen''.

Early life and background

Weiss was born in Vienna in 1982. He studied German philology, philosophy and German as a foreign language at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. As a master's thesis, he wrote a deconstructivist essay on

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrians, Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has ...

's ''

A Sorrow Beyond Dreams ''A Sorrow Beyond Dreams'' () is a 1972 semi-autobiographical novella by the Austrian writer Peter Handke. It describes the life of Handke's mother Maria, who committed suicide on 19 November 1971. Reception Thomas Curwen of the ''Los Angeles Ti ...

'' with . After graduation, in 2008, he taught at the

Baku State University Baku State University (BSU) (BDU; ) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established on 1 September 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history and philology, physics ...

in Azerbaijan. He currently lives and works in Vienna.

Writing career

His theatrical text ''Egon'' was published by

Passagen Verlag The publishing house Passagen Verlag was founded in 1985 in Vienna by Peter Engelmann. The primary intention of the publisher was the translation of Jacques Derrida's work into German language, German. Around the author Derrida, Peter Engelmann deve ...

in 2008 and was presented in the form of a scenic reading and performance at the

Leopold Museum The Leopold Museum, housed in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria, is home to one of the largest collections of modern Austrian art, featuring artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Richard Gerstl. It contains the w ...

in Vienna. Weiss took part in 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 2009 with his text ''Blätterliebe''. In 2010, his play ''Seifenblasenoper. Eine Kritik der runden Vernunft'' was presented at the Burgtheater Vienna. In 2011 he won the Hans Gratzer grant with his play ''Allerwelt'', with a world premiere at the Schauspielhaus in Vienna, where he was the in-house author in the 2013/14 season. In January 2013 his story ''Tartaglia'' appeared in the Edition Atelier in Vienna. From December 2013 to spring 2014,

Projekttheater Vorarlberg Projekttheater Vorarlberg is a theatrical group in Austria, established in 1988 by Sieglinde Müller and Dietmar Nigsch. It puts on two productions a year and has performed all over the Austria, South Tyrol and Bavaria since 1995. The group is dir ...

put on a production of Weiss's ''

Ein schöner Hase ist meistens der Einzellne ''Ein schöner Hase ist meistens der Einzellne'' (''A Beautiful Rabbit is Mostly the Individual'') is a 2013 play by Austrian playwright and writer Philipp Weiss. It is based on the true story of two schizophrenic patients of the Gugging mental ins ...

'', a play based on the real-life story of poet

Ernst Herbeck Ernst Herbeck (9 October 1920, Stockerau, Lower Austria – 11 September 1991) was an Austrian poet. In 1940, at the age of 20, Herbeck was committed to the national mental hospital in Lower Austria (Niederösterreich) where he spent almost hi ...

(1920–1991) and artist

August Walla August Walla (1936–2001) was an Austrian outsider artist. Career Walla grew up as an only child with his mother and grandmother. His mother dressed and educated him as a girl, to prevent him from becoming a soldier. Walla later declared that he ...

(1936–2001), long-term schizophrenic artistic patients of the Gugging Mental Hospital near Vienna. In September 2018, Weiss published his critically acclaimed debut novel '' Am Weltenrand sitzen die Menschen'' at

Suhrkamp Verlag 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, ...

(Berlin). The 1,056 pages were published as five volumes in a slipcase, but are a coherent novel. The novel won the 2018 and and 2019

Rauris Literature Prize The Rauris Literature Prize () is an annual Austrian literary award since 1972 by the Salzburg state government. The prize money is €10,000. It is awarded "for the best prose first publication by a German-speaking author from the previous year". ...

awards. In October 2019, his play ''Der letzte Mensch'' (''The Last Man'') premiered at Hamakom, which deals with the future of mankind in various scenarios.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Philipp 1982 births Living people Austrian male dramatists and playwrights Austrian essayists Austrian male novelists 21st-century Austrian male writers 21st-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of Baku State University Writers from Vienna