Urs Allemann: Former Swiss scandal author is dead

Swiss writer and poet –

Former scandal author Urs Allemann is dead

The Swiss was 76 years old. In the 1990s he caused a scandal at the Bachmann Prize with his story “Babyfucker”.

Published today at 5:37 p.m

The Swiss literature prize winner Urs Allemann during his acceptance speech in the reading room of the National Library in Bern. (February 20, 2014)

Photo: Lukas Lehmann (Keystone)

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The author Urs Allemann is dead. According to his widow, he died on Sunday at the age of 76, as the Vienna Literature House announced on Monday.

Just a few months ago, the writer, who earned a reputation as a scandal author with the story “Babyfucker” in the early 1990s, was awarded the “Erich Fried” prize. The award ceremony on November 30th in Vienna, which he would not have attended anyway due to his health, will now also be a commemorative event.

In his texts, Allemann combines “an experimental-anarchist approach” with a “pronounced interest in strict, traditional verse, stanza and poem forms,” said the German author Ulf Stolterfoht, describing the style of the deceased. Stolterfoht is this year’s sole juror for the Erich Fried Prize.

Strict lyric forms alienated

Allemann used strict forms from the lyric tradition, such as the ode or elegy of Friedrich Hölderin or sonnets; In terms of content, he described fantasies of violence and destruction, which ultimately turn against the strict form of language – as in the volumes of poetry “Holder die Polder. Odes, Elegies, Others” (2001) or “schœn! nice!” (2003).

Or in “In the Child, the Ancestors Are Swirling” (2008) he arranged 52 poems according to their first letter from A to Z. Typical of his approach here is onomatopoeic alienation, as can be seen from the title. Because this is based on a quote from Hölderin’s poem “Half of Life”; It says “The flags clink in the wind”. Allemann himself called this technique overwriting.

Stolterfoht also described Allemann as a “great reader and performer”. In his performances, “anarchy, experiment and form awareness” came together in a way “that is so far removed from the classic water glass reading that you suddenly believe in the effectiveness of poetry again,” says Stolterfoht.

Scandal at the Bachmann Prize

Allemann was born on April 1, 1948 in Schlieren, Zurich. From 1986 to 2004 he was literary editor at the “Basler Zeitung”. During this time he published the volume of poetry “Fuzzhase” (1988) and the story “Babyficker” (1992).

With the latter he caused a scandal with an appearance at the reading competition for the Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt in 1991. The accusation was that Allemann presented the fantasies of a pedophile with his text. He won second prize in the reading competition, which subsequently sparked political debates. Jury member and literary critic Hellmuth Karasek argued that the text was intended as a provocation. Literature must “constantly search for the limits that it reaches with its fantasies and experiences; it must not stop where it is already at home”.

Allemann was later awarded, among other things, the Swiss Literature Prize (2014). Since 2013, Allemann has lived in Goslar, Germany. He most recently published his volume of poetry “Carruthers Variations” (2022).

Strict lyric forms alienated

Scandal at the Bachmann Prize

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