Charles Lewinsky

Charles Lewinsky (2016)

Charles Lewinsky (born April 14, 1946 in Zurich ) is a Swiss screenwriter and writer .

Life

Charles Lewinsky studied German and theater studies in Zurich and Berlin (without a degree). He worked as an assistant director to Fritz Kortner and as a dramaturge and director on various stages as well as editor and head of the word entertainment department of Swiss television . In 1984 he published his first book together with Doris Morf , the political fiction Hitler on the Rütli . Further books and productions for Swiss television, ARD and ZDF followed . Lewinsky became known to the Swiss public in the mid-1990s as the author of the sitcom Fascht e Familie ; Ready Lustig and Citizens' Office followed later . He also wrote several radio plays for Swiss radio.

In 2001 he received the Schiller Prize from the Zürcher Kantonalbank for his novel Johannistag . He gained further recognition as a writer in 2006 with the family saga Melnitz , with the history of the Jews in Switzerland between 1871 and 1945 as its theme. Lewinsky has also written over 700 lyrics for various composers, including Maja Brunner , who won the Grand Prix of Folk Music before 1987 with the song Das chunnt eus spanisch . In 2011 he was nominated for the Swiss Book Prize with his novel Gerron (about Kurt Gerron ) , and in 2014 he was nominated for the German Book Prize . In 2016 he was nominated again for the Swiss Book Prize for his novel Andersen .

Lewinsky is of Jewish origin, but describes himself “not as a Jew by profession”. He lives in Zurich and in Vereux, France .

Works

Books

• with Doris Morf : Hitler on the Rütli. Logs of a suppressed time. Unionsverlag, Zurich 1984; New edition: 2014, ISBN 978-3-293-00472-6 .
• Galactic garden gnomes and other Sunday stories. Unionsverlag, Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-293-00092-4 .
• Mattscheibe (= Haffmans-Taschenbuch , Volume 139), Haffmans, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-251-01139-1 .
• The A quotient. Theory and practice of living with assholes. Haffmans, Zurich 1994; Haffmans bei Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-86150-846-5 .
• Cobbler! Talk show novel. Haffmans, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-251-00369-0 .
  • Paperback edition as Die Talkshow. Goldmann, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-442-44246-X , license from Haffmans-Verlag Zurich.
    • Screen. Talk show. Two television novels. Haffmans bei Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-86150-817-5 .
• The devil on Christmas night. Haffmans, Zurich 1997; dtv, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-423-21472-8 .
• St. John's Day. Detective novel. Haffmans, Zurich 2000; dtv, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-13761-4 .
• An ordinary Jew. Rotbuch, Hamburg 2005; Rotbuch, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86789-005-2 .
• Melnitz. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2006; dtv, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-423-13592-4 .
• with Jacob Stickelberger : Summit Conference. Monthly songs. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-312-00394-5 .
• Once on earth and back. The old child's visit. Atlantis, Zurich 2007; dtv, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-62401-5 .
• Ten and one nights. Stories. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-312-00419-5 ; dtv, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-423-14175-8 .
• One-two. A serial novel. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-312-00444-7 ; dtv, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-423-14148-2 .
• with Andreas Gefe : Two times two. Comic. Edition Moderne , Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-03-731084-7 .
• Gerron. Novel. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-312-00478-2 ; dtv, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-423-14250-2 .
• Wrong Mao, real Goethe. 48 glosses on books and bookmakers. NZZ Libro, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-03823-754-9 .
• Switzerland. 24 futures. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-312-00555-0 .
• Kastelau. Novel. Nagel & Kimche, Munich 2014. ISBN 978-3-312-00640-3 ; dtv, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-423-14465-0 .
• Andersen . Novel. Nagel & Kimche, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-312-00689-2 .
• The will of the people . Detective novel. Nagel & Kimche, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-312-01037-0 .
• The stutterer . Novel. Diogenes, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-257-60957-8 .

Plays

• Have a chat in Zurich . Cabaret revue with Hans Gmür . WP: 1983
• Three men in the snow (after Erich Kästner ). WP: 1984
• Potztuusig! Dodgy! Cabaret revue with Hans Gmür. WP: 1985
• Good Doctor Guillotin . Premiere: Zurich 1992
• All of a fine family . WP: Basel 2000
• Friends, life is worth living . WP: Karlsruhe, 2001
• World in the mirror (based on texts by Robert Gernhardt ). Premiere: Winterthur 2002
• Stranger Foetzel . WP: Basel 2003
• Abdication (with Patrick Frey ). WP: Winterthur 2004
• Home, sweet home . WP: Vienna 2006
• Tie break . Premiere: Winterthur 2009
• An ordinary Jew .
• A home game . WP: Stuttgart 2010
• Discretion a matter of honor

Musicals

• Deep (music: Markus Schönholzer). WP: Zurich 2002
• Gotthelf - the musical . WP: 2011

Filmography

• 1992: Happy Holiday , ARD
• 1994–1996 Florida Lady , ZDF
• 1994–1999: Fascht e Familie , Sitcom, SF
• 1998: The dream ship: Argentina , ZDF
• 2000–2002: Done Funny , Sitcom, SF
• 2001: The Fabulous Sisters, ZDF
• 2002: Citizens' Office , Sitcom, SF
• 2005: The secret life of my girlfriend , ZDF
• 2005: A very common Jew , ARD
• 2005: The Sundial, ZDF
• 2007: Mission in Hamburg - murder after midnight , ZDF

literature

• Dietrich Seybold: Charles Lewinsky . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 2, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 1102 f.
• Caspar Battegay: Lewinsky, Charles. In: Andreas B. Kilcher (Ed.): Metzler Lexicon of German-Jewish Literature. Jewish authors in the German language from the Enlightenment to the present. 2nd, updated and expanded edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02457-2 , pp. 335–337.

Web links

• Publications by and about Charles Lewinsky in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
• Charles Lewinsky archive in the HelveticArchives archive database of the Swiss National Library
• Charles Lewinsky website
• Literature by and about Charles Lewinsky in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry about Charles Lewinsky in the lexicon of the Association of Authors of Switzerland
• Short biography and information on the work of Charles Lewinsky at Literaturport
• Charles Lewinsky in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• From U to E , review by Jürg Altwegg , FAZ from February 28, 2006
• The world is 1000 paces long , review on St. John's Day in: Rheinischer Merkur from March 29, 2007.
• Die Prinzession sells fairy tales , review of Ten and One Nights in: Deutschlandfunk from October 22, 2008.
• Terrifying visions of the future , review of Switzerland in: Deutschlandfunk from August 5, 2013.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franziska Streun: "I am not a Jew by profession" . In: Tages-Anzeiger . June 20, 2011, ISSN  1422-9994 ( tagesanzeiger.ch [accessed on January 22, 2020]).
2. ↑ Book review in the show 52 best books on Swiss radio (March 17, 2019)