Alexander Xaver Gwerder

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Alexander Xaver Gwerder (born March 11, 1923 as Alexander Josef Gwerder in Thalwil , Canton of Zurich ; † September 14, 1952 in Arles , France ) was a Swiss writer .

Life

Alexander Xaver Gwerder came from a working class family. After attending primary and secondary schools in Wädenswil and Rüschlikon , he trained as a printer from 1938 to 1942 . He then completed the recruiting school and active service , which became a traumatic experience for him. In 1944 he married the secretary of the same age, Gertrud Wälti, and moved with her to Riehen . In 1947 the couple moved to Zurich with their children Urban and Heidi , where Gwerder worked as an offset copyist.

Gwerder had already started writing poetry at the age of sixteen; A bizarre phase of Hitler's admiration also fell during this period. From 1949 Gwerder's poems appeared in the Zürcher Zeitung Die Tat , whose editor-in-chief Erwin Jaeckle was one of his sponsors. Gwerder's vehement rejection of compulsory military service , which he tried to evade, culminated in a polemical correspondence with the head of the Federal Military Department in 1951 . Gwerder was then severely attacked in 1952 during the Zurich Week . He reacted with strong self-doubt, got into a psychological crisis and also suffered from jaundice . Together with his lover, the nineteen-year-old Salomé Dürrenberger, Gwerder traveled in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh, whom he admired, to Arles with the intention of killing themselves there. Gwerder found death while attempting double suicide ; his lover survived.

Gwerder wrote poetry and prose ; essential parts of it were only published posthumously by Arche Verlag . His poetic work, in which the influences of Benn and Rilke are recognizable, is an expression of a rebellious character and characterized by a richly pictorial, rhythmic language that increasingly slips into the casual and cynical. Gwerder's main themes are criticism of the bourgeoisie and the military, as well as the absolutization of the individual. Since he remained a blatant outsider with this attitude during his lifetime - also and especially in Swiss literature - his writing ended in melancholy and resignation. Only slowly and completely only since the publication of his entire work by Limmat Verlag in 1998 has Gwerder received the recognition it deserves from the literary public.

Works

  • Encounter . Ertel, Landau 1951
  • Monologues . Zurich 1951
  • Blue monkshood . Poems. Magnus, Zurich 1951
  • Twilight clover . Postponed poems, ed. v. Trudy Federli-Gwerder and Hans Rudolf Hilty . Arche, Zurich 1955
  • It is possible that there will be a thunderstorm . Retired prose, with four woodcuts by Rudolf Scharpf . Arche, Zurich 1957
  • Land over roofs . Postponed poems. With a contribution by Karl Krolow . Arche, Zurich 1959
  • Mesh break. Conversation at the coffee house table . Arche, Zurich 1969
  • If only I knew whoever was screaming like that. Chants against the crowd . Places, Zurich 1978
  • Forest dream . Selected poems. Limmat, Zurich 1991
  • Collected works and selected letters , 3 volumes, ed. v. Roger Perret. Limmat, Zurich 1998:
    • Volume 1: After midnight . Poetry
    • Volume 2: Letter from the pack ice . Prose and letters
    • Volume 3: Thirteen meters above the street . Documents on life and work. comment

literature

Settings

  • Heinz Holliger : Small cantata based on poems by Alexander Xaver Gwerder (1961) for flute, violin, viola, violoncello and harp
  • Mischa Käser : Three choir pieces based on texts by AX Gwerder (1990) for two mixed choirs and solo soprano

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Gwerder, Alexander Xaver
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gwerder, Alexander Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Thalwil , Canton of Zurich
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1952
Place of death Arles , France