Lars Gustafsson [ Sweden, USA ]
Biography
© Hartwig Klappert
Gast des ilb 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001.
Bibliography
Vägvila. Ett mysteriespel på prosa.
Siesta
Uppsala, 1957
Poeten Brumbergs sista dagar och död
Norstedt
Stockholm, 1959
Bröderna
Vingförlaget
Stockholm, 1960
Bakunins Reise
Literarisches Colloquium
Berlin, 1968
[Ü: Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Jürg Mahner]
Der eigentliche Bericht über Herrn Arenander
Hanser
München, 1969
[Ü: Gustav Adolf Modersohn]
Utopien
Hanser
München, 1970
[Ü: Hanns Grössel]
Herr Gustafsson persönlich
Hanser
München, 1972
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Wollsachen
Hanser
München, 1974
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Die unnötige Gegenwart
Hanser
München, Wien, 1975
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Das Familientreffen
Hanser
München, Wien, 1976
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Sigismund
Hanser
München, Wien, 1977
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Der Tod eines Bienenzüchters
Hanser
München, Wien, 1978
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Die Tennisspieler
Hanser
München, Wien, 1979
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Sprache und Lüge: Drei sprachphilosophische Extremisten
Hanser
München, Wien, 1980
[Ü: Susanne Seul]
Die Stille der Welt vor Bach
Hanser
München, Wien, 1982
[Ü: Anna-Liese Kornitzky]
Eine Liebe zur Sache
Hanser
München, Wien, 1983
[Ü: Ruprecht Volz]
Erzählungen von glücklichen Menschen
Hanser
München, Wien, 1981
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Trauermusik
Hanser
München, Wien, 1984
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Die dritte Rochade des Bernard Foy
Hanser
München, Wien, 1986
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Die Bilder an der Mauer der Sonnenstadt: Essays über Gut und Böse
Hanser
München, Wien, 1987
[Ü: Ruprecht Volz]
Die Kunst, den November zu überstehen und andere Geschichten
Hanser
München, Wien, 1988
Das seltsame Tier aus dem Norden und andere Merkwürdigkeiten
Hanser
München, Wien, 1989
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Nachmittag eines Fliesenlegers
Hanser
München, Wien, 1991
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Vorbereitungen für die Wintersaison
Hanser
München, Wien, 1992
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Die Sache mit dem Hund
Hanser
München, Wien, 1994
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Palast der Erinnerung
Hanser
München, Wien, 1996
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Geheimnisse zwischen Liebenden
Hanser
München, Wien, 1997
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Ein Vormittag in Schweden
Hanser
München, Wien, 1998
[Ü: Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Hanns Grössel, Verena Reichel]
Blom und die zweite Magenta
Hanser
München, Wien, 2001
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Windy erzählt
Hanser
München, Wien, 1999
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Auszug aus Xanadu
Hanser
München, Wien, 2003
[Ü: Verena Reichel, Hans Magnus Enzensberger]
Der Dekan
Hanser
München, 2004
[Übersetzung: Verena Reichel]
Risse in der Mauer. Fünf Romane
Hanser
München, Wien, 2006
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Die Sonntage des amerikanischen Mädchens
Hanser
München, 2008
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Jahrhunderte und Minuten
Fischer
Frankfurt am Main, 2009
[Ü: Hans Magnus Enzensberger u. a.]
Frau Sorgedahls schöne weiße Arme
Hanser
München, 2009
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Alles was man braucht. Ein Handbuch für das Leben.
Carl Hanser Verlag
München, 2010
[Ü: Verena Reichel]
Gegen Null: Eine mathematische Phantasie
Secession Verlag für Literatur
Zürich, 2011
[Ü: Barbara M. Karlson]
Lars Gustafsson was born in Västerås, central Sweden, in 1936. He completed his philosophy studies at the University of Uppsala and Magdelen College, Oxford, with a dissertation on "three extremists in the philosophy of language" (Friedrich Nietzsche, Alexander Bryan Johnson and Fritz Mauthner). He published his first novel, 'Vägvila : ett mysteriespel på prosa', (Engl: Rest on the Way – A Mystery Play in Prose), at the age of only 21. Gustafsson himself dates his actual debut from 1959, when 'Poeten Brumbergs sista dagar och död' (Engl: Last Days and Death of the Poet Brumberg) appeared.
From 1960 Gustafsson was editor, and from 1965 to 1972 chief editor, of the Swedish literary journal 'Bonniers Litterära Magasin'. After this he travelled extensively and accepted various guest lectureships including in West Germany. The offer of a DAAD scholarship brought him to Berlin in 1972. Gustafsson had already made a name for himself internationally as a writer and academic when he decided to change his life dramatically in 1982 by emigrating to the US, remarrying, and converting to Judaism. He moved to Austin, Texas, and became an American citizen in 1983. He held a position as adjunct professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas and still lives in Austin where he teaches philosophy at University. His extensive work has won many awards, including the Prix Européen de l’essai Charles Veillon (1983), the Swedish Academy’s Bellman Prize (1990) and the Swedish Pilot Prize (1996). Since 2000, he has been a member of the 'Academy of Fine Arts' in Munich. In Germany, Gustafsson first gained critical acclaim with his poetry during the 1970’s. His poems focus on questions which he also tackles as a novelist and essayist. The search for identity, moral consciousness, the relationship between personal experience and self-awareness, juxtaposed with a philosophically founded scepticism towards language, are the main themes of his work. Since his novels that would later form the series 'Sprickorna i muren' (Engl: The Cracks in the Wall), Gustafsson is regarded internationally as one of Scandinavia’s best-known authors. Here the author uses crime motifs to present the fragility of a world view which relies on expressions such as 'good' and 'evil' and concepts of personal integrity.
Lars Gustafsson is a master of the most varied literary forms. His most recent publications have been the poetry collection 'En tid i Xanadu' (2002) and the novel 'Dekanen' (2003). In 2005/06 he was Writer in Residence at Tübingen University, Germany.
© international literature festival berlin
[http://www.utexas.edu/depts/german/faculty/gustafsson.html]
