Urs Widmer

Schweiz geografiska läge i Alperna, mitt i Europa, är både centralt och avskilt och har gett landet dess speciella karaktär med en stor språklig och kulturell mångfald. I mötet med de angränsande kulturområdena har människorna konfronterats med sin egen identitet likväl som med de andras, med sin egen hembygd och det främmande. Det har givetvis satt sina spår i litteraturen. Så skriver Benita F

A magnificent example of Widmer’s characteristic humor, literary genius, and unparalleled imagination. In the wildly entertaining novel The Blue Soda Siphon, the narrator unexpectedly finds himself back in the world of his childhood: Switzerland in the 1940s. He returns to his childhood home to find his parents frantic because their son is missing. Then, in another switch, the young boy that he was back then turns up in the present of the early 1990s, during the Gulf War, where he meets himself as an older man, and meets his adult self’s young daughter. These head-scratching, hilarious time shifts happen when both the adult narrator and his childhood self go to the cinema and see films, the subjects of which echo their own lives. Translated into English for the first time by Donal McLaughlin, this novel, in which the eponymous blue soda siphon bottle is a recurring symbol, is a magnificent example of Urs Widmer’s characteristic humor, literary genius, and unparalleled imagination.

Kuno, a male nurse in a Swiss retirement home, has a new inmate: his father. In the confines of their new home, the pair does something surprising—they finally begin to talk. Kuno had always regarded his father as a boring man without a history or a destiny, until they are thrust together and he learns that his father risked his life in the war. Stunned, Kuno embarks on a journey into his own psyche, taking him to the depths of the Congo. Here, longings awaken and dreams come true—rays of light in the darkness, meetings with kings, seductive women, and the songs of the jungle. This alluring far-away place he once regarded as the heart of darkness suddenly becomes an exciting locale of lunacy, wildness, and tests of inner strength. In Urs Widmer’s characteristic style, In the Congo is a riveting yarn, threading through not only the relationship between a father and son, but that of Africa and Europe. Translated by Donal McLaughlin, this novel will delight Widmer fans the world over and will turn our notions of colonialism on their heads.

The day is Friday, May 22, 2032. On this day, the day after his ninety-fourth birthday, a man is sitting in a beautiful garden. It is a paradise where he often played during his childhood, and it is here that he is recording the story of his adventures with Mr. Adamson. In the course of this compelling novel from Swiss author Urs Widmer, this man narrates his unusual story to his granddaughter, Anni. While he recounts his life, he is also waiting—waiting for the arrival of this very Mr. Adamson, whom he has not seen since the age of eight. Even then it was a mysterious encounter—a glimpse into realms that normally remain concealed to the living. For Mr. Adamson died at the very moment when our narrator was born, and he will soon return to escort the ninety-four-year-old narrator into another paradise. Told with Urs Widmer’s signature humor, genius, and lively imagination, Mr Adamson is a superb story and a spellbinding book. With its vitality and zest for life, it manages to hold at bay that scandal we must all face in our lives: death.

It's Switzerland in the 1920s when the two lovers first meet. She is young, beautiful, and rich. In contrast, he can barely support himself and is interested only in music. By the end of their lives, he is a famous conductor and the richest man in the country, but she is penniless. And most important of all, no one knows of her love for him; it is a secret he took to his grave. Here begins Urs Widmer's novel My Mother's Lover. Based on a real-life affair, My Mother's Lover is the story of a lifelong and unspoken love for a man recorded by the woman's son, who begins this novel on the day his mother's lover dies. Set against the backdrop of the Depression and World War II, it is a story of sacrifice and betrayal, passionate devotion, and inevitable suffering. Yet in Widmer's hands, it is always entertaining and surprisingly comic--a unique kind of fairy tale.

In this companion to Urs Widmer's novel My Mother's Lover, the narrator is again the son who pieces together the fragments of his parents' stories. Since the age of twelve, Karl, the father, has observed the family tradition of recording his life in a single notebook, but when his book is lost soon after his death, his son resolves to rewrite it. Here, we get to know Karl's friends--a collection of anti-fascist painters and architects known as Group 33. We learn of the early years of Karl's marriage and follow his military service as the Swiss fear a German invasion during World War II, his political activity for the Communist Party, and his brief career as a teacher. Widmer brilliantly combines family history and historical events to tell the story of a man more at home in the world of the imagination than in the real world, a father who grows on the reader, just as he grows on his son.

The Lectures on Poetics Series at the University of Frankfurt VI has hosted many illustrious speakers at its lectern, including Ingeborg Bachmann, Theodor Adorno, and Heinrich Boll. At the beginning of 2007, Urs Widmer--described by the Independent as "one of the living greats of Swiss literature"--spoke to more than twelve hundred students and enthusiasts, sharing the sum of his understandings of poets and their timeless creations. In On Life, Death, and This and That of the Rest, English language readers will gain access to Widmer's historic talks for the first time through Donal McLaughlin's excellent translation. Here, Widmer imparts his views on the poet as deviant and as sufferer, and as the conduit for the dream of singing to the imagination in the nameless voice of the people. Here, one of our finest living writers shares his experience of life as an author and as a devotee of the printed word with a new and enthusiastic readership.

The day is Friday, May 22, 2032. On this day, the day after his ninety-fourth birthday, a man is sitting in a beautiful garden. It is a paradise where he often played during his childhood, and it is here that he is recording the story of his adventures with Mr Adamson. In the course of this compelling novel from Swiss author Urs Widmer, this man narrates his unusual story to his granddaughter, Anni. While he recounts his life, he is also waiting-waiting for the arrival of this very Mr. Adamson, whom he has not seen since the age of eight. Even then it was a mysterious encounter - a glimpse into realms that normally remain concealed to the living. For Mr. Adamson died at the very moment when our narrator was born, and he will soon return to escort the ninety-four-year-old narrator into another paradise. Told with Urs Widmer's signature humor, genius, and lively imagination, Mr Adamson is a superb story and a spellbinding book. With its vitality and zest for life, it manages to hold at bay that scandal we must all face in our lives: death. It includes praise for Widmer.

In the wildly entertaining novel The Blue Soda Siphon, the narrator unexpectedly finds himself back in the world of his childhood: Switzerland in the 1940s. He returns to his childhood home to find his parents frantic because their son is missing. Then, in another switch, the young boy that he was back then turns up in the present of the early 1990s, during the Gulf War, where he meets himself as an older man and meets his adult self's young daughter. These head-scratching, hilarious time shifts happen when both the adult narrator and his childhood self go to the cinema and see films, the subjects of which echo their own lives. Translated into English for the first time by Donal McLaughlin, this novel, in which the eponymous blue soda siphon bottle is a recurring symbol, is a magnificent example of Urs Widmer's characteristic humor, literary genius, and unparalleled imagination.

Urs Widmer hat die wundervollen Geschichten aus Tausendundeiner Nacht behutsam gerafft, ohne ihnen das orientalische Flair zu nehmen. Höchst anschaulich, deftig und kurzweilig erzählt er die sechs berühmtesten Geschichten der unsterblichen Scheherzad neu. Und damit die große Märchensammlung für alle Sinne ?eine Quelle unendlichen Genusses, das reichste Bilderbuch der Welt? (Hermann Hesse) werde, hat Tatjana Hauptmann sich ans Werk gemacht, DIE Künstlerin, um die orientalische Üppigkeit und Subtilität ins Bild zu holen.

'Das Buch des Vaters' ist die Aufzeichnung eines leidenschaftlichen Lebens, von der Liebe zur Literatur bestimmt. Von den großen Utopien, Hoffnungen und Enttäuschungen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Und von der Liebe zu Clara Molinari, einer geheimnisvollen Frau.

Widmers Königsdrama über die Kündigungskultur wird in aller Welt gespielt. "Ein Kult-Stück." (BuchJournal) "Das Thema könnte brisanter gar nicht sein. Es heißt: strukturelle Arbeitslosigkeit - es ist das Dilemma der westlichen Industrie- und Wohlstandsgesellschaft. Doch anders als sonst wird das Thema ganz vom Kopf her aufgezäumt. Nicht um Underdogs geht es hier, sondern um Top Dogs. Um Spitzenmanager, die im Zuge global bedingter Umstrukturierungen entlassen wurden und die sich jetzt in einem Zürcher Outplacement-Büro zusammengefunden haben - zwecks Schockabfederung, Enttäuschungsverarbeitung und späterer beruflicher Reintegration. Präsentiert wird ein Königsdrama der Wirtschaft, nicht ein Kleine-Leute-Stück. Das burgsiert das Spiel aus den Grauzonen der üblichen Sozialreportage heraus, sichert ihm überraschende Einsichten - und Witz. Lachend, bestens unterhalten, aber immer wieder auch mit Beklommenheit begreifen wir: Da ist etwas faul, nicht nur im Staate Helvetia. Da müssen Manager nicht nur ihre Untergebenen, sondern am Schluß auch sich selbst entlassen - das ist die groteske Logik dieser Ökonomie. Die Globalisierung frißt ihre Kinder." (Gerhard Jörder in seiner Laudatio zum 3sat-Theaterpreis für TOP DOGS, 1997) "Widmers Stück über zerbrochene Wohlstandswelten, zerfallene Selbstwertgefühle bei denen, die sich bis vor kurzem noch als Stützen der Gesellschaft fühlten, trifft den eigentlichen Fortschritts-Nerv. Und findet die Parallele zu Shakespeares Königsdramen: angstgepeitschte Herrscher, Überlebensmörder. In TOP DOGS stürzen die Erfolgreichen. Diese Art Fortkommen, zeigt Widmer mit hinterhältig verständnisvollem Humor, steht inzwischen auch nur eine Handbreit vorm Fenstersturz. Gleich hinter den Wohlstandsburgen, den Porsches und Handys, in der nächsten Spalte heute noch überquellender Terminkalender - da beginnt ein wüstes Land." (Franz Wille) "Urs Widmer beherrscht es, die Schrauben im Kopf seiner Figuren immer noch eine Drehung weiter hineinzutreiben. Da hört der Spaß dann ziemlich abrupt auf, aus dem Wechselspiel von beklemmender Komik und komischer Beklemmung entsteht ein Ernst, der vom Spiel nicht mehr zu trennen ist." (Theater heute) "Ein High-Light polit-ökonomischen Theaters." (theater pur)

'Der Geliebte der Mutter' handelt von der unerwiderten lebenslangen Liebe Claras zu dem berühmten Dirigenten Edwin, aufgezeichnet von ihrem Sohn. Es ist zugleich ein Roman über das Geld und die Macht, über die Umkehr der Verhältnisse und über das 20. Jahrhundert.

Der Altenpfleger Kuno erhält einen neuen Gast: seinen Vater. Kuno glaubte immer, sein Vater sei ein Langweiler, ohne Schicksal und ohne Geschichte - bis er mit einemmal merkt, daß dieser im Zweiten Weltkrieg einst Kopf und Kragen riskiert hat. Sein greiser Vater hat ein Schicksal, und was für eins! Eine Reise in die eigenen Abgründe beginnt, in deren Verlauf es Kuno bis in den tiefsten Kongo verschlägt.