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Peter Stamm [Switzerland] English biography on the Berlin International Literature Festival website |
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Are there any exciting trends, movement, or schools in contemporary Swiss fiction? Who do you feel are the overlooked contemporary authors in Switzerland who should be more widely read and translated? Some authors in Switzerland have started to work with dialect, not aiming at naturalism but using it in an artificial way. Some of the texts they have written – for example, Tim Krohn's – are very exciting, especially when they are performed live, sometimes together with musicians. There is also a group of young writers who write modern stories in dialect. These texts are often published together with a German translation. Quite often though, the charm of these texts reveals itself only when they are read aloud. There is also an interesting movement of young writers whose work is situated somewhere between radio-plays, acoustic art, poetry and slam or even rap. A wonderful author that hadn't, as far as I know, been translated widely is Klaus Merz. His novels are often less than a hundred pages long, but they are very dense and at the same time readable and at the same time laconic and touching. Another great writer who is becoming more and more successful (but in my mind is still not successful enough) is Markus Werner, who writes comic-melancholic novels. Who are the contemporary European writers from other countries that are writing compelling fiction? There are so many, but I must admit that I do not have a good overview. What I read is mostly based on recommendations, certainly not on nationality or actuality. I have just read Orhan Pamuk's wonderful book "Snow", the Swiss Robert Walser's "Der Gehülfe" and have rediscovered Milan Kundera, whom I haven't read for years. Do you want your work to be translated? Why or why not? All writers, I guess, want to be read. Not just to make a living. Writing – and reading – is communicating. It is wonderful if communication works across borders and times. I love to think that people in many different countries are able to read what I've written. It's like having grown up children, which are now out into the world doing, hopefully, good work. During reading tours in Russia, Iran or China I have met people to whom my works meant something, even though they live in worlds completely different from mine. Are there enough publishing outlets in Switzerland for contemporary fiction? Is there a market for literary fiction in Switzerland? There are very good publishing houses in Switzerland and also many readers interested in fiction. But as Switzerland is a small country we are naturally oriented towards our neighbors. I have always had German publishers. Authors from the French part of the country try to get French publishers, those from the Italian part hope to get into the Italian market. On the other hand all Swiss publishers work with authors from other countries. Given a choice, would you prefer a faithful, literal translation of your work or an interpretive re-imagining of it? Why? To think that it is possible to translate a text literally and faithfully is an illusion. Every translator has to interpret the text. And if he does not re-imagine it, the translation will be lifeless and therefore wrong. On the other hand, a translator should be the servant of the text and not some kind of co-author. I am in contact with many of my translators and I try to answer all their questions. That's probably the best way to insure good translations. |
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