Peter Stephan Jungk [ Frankreich, Österreich ]

Peter Stephan Jungk was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1952. The son of a Jewish emigrant family, he spent his childhood and adolescence in Vienna, West Berlin and Salzburg, where he was educated to university level. Upon finishing, he worked as assistant director at the Basle Theatre and also worked as a film crew assistant. He studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles from 1974-76. In Paris, which was to become his main place of residence, he worked as assistant director on Peter Handke's film »Die linkshändige Frau« (1978; Eng. »The Left-Handed Woman«). That same year his volume of short stories, »Stechpalmenwald« (t: Forest of holly) and his prized radio play »Oktave« appeared. He studied at a Bible college in Jerusalem from 1979 to 1980, where he wrote his first novel, »Rundgang« (1981; Eng. »Shabbat : a Rite of Passage in Jerusalem«, 1985), in which walks through the city give rise to reflections on home and identity. Following the publication of an account of the life of Franz Werfel – praised by the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung« as »the first really comprehensive biography and also worth reading for its other qualities« – he filmed »Weltfreund zwischen den Welten« (t: Friend of the world between worlds), a documentary about the Austrian writer, for ZDF and ORF. Jungk works both as a freelance writer and as an author and director for radio, television and the press. In addition, he has carried out numerous translations, among them texts by Thornton Wilder and Woody Allen.
The six novels Jungk has published up until now all focus on the theme of identity and individuality. His protagonists are restless characters: some are in search of their vocation and their roots (»Tigor«, 1991; Eng. »The Snowflake Constant«, 2002), others are driven by ancestry and personality (»Die Unruhe der Stella Federspiel«, 1996; t: The uneasiness of Stella Federspiel; »Die Erbschaft«, 1999; t: The legacy). »Der König von Amerika« (2001; Eng. »The Perfect American«, 2004), meanwhile, is a biographical novel about the American animation film mogul Walt Disney, and depicts the fascinating personality of a charismatic company dictator whose inspiring visions helped to create amazing products time and again. This fictionalised biography was followed by a novel containing several autobiographical elements. »Die Reise über den Hudson« (2005; t: Journey over the Hudson) describes the process of self discovery of a man unable to leave his role as a son behind, in the face of his mother's oppressive concern and having had an overly powerful and renowned father. One day, on his way to the family holiday home, he runs into traffic and gets stuck on a bridge, only to discover the mammoth corpse of his dead father lying in the riverbed. In a realistic and cinematic language derived from theatre and film – at times magical in its effect –, Jungk produces nuanced, thought-provoking portraits, factually rich tableaux and gripping narrative threads.
In 2001 Jungk was awarded the Stefan Andres Prize, and two years later he became writer in residence at Oberlin College in Ohio. Since 2002 he has been writing monthly columns for »Die Welt«, in which he reports on visits to the movies accompanied by celebrities, under the rubric »Going to the cinema with...«. With his wife, the photographer Lillian Birnbaum, he published the photobook »Vier Frauen: Porträts« (1994; t: Four women: portraits). The couple live in Paris with their daughter.

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