Gerhard Cerny
Gerhard Cerny (born August 23, 1944 in Bucharest , Romania ) is a German-speaking writer . He lives in Sibiu , Romania, Vienna and Berlin.
The author of short stories and novellas, whose Spis family emigrated from what is now Slovakia to Romania in the 19th century, is one of the little-known German-speaking authors of Eastern European origin. In his prose the themes of aging and disease are taken up.
One of his short stories deals with the infirmity of a woman suffering from cancer , whose life is gradually being wiped out by the cancer. Ordinary objects are often given a metaphysical meaning in his prose. Simple language is just as much a part of Cerny's writing style as his dry, almost indifferent description of “anti-erotic” moments. Rural life in Transylvania before the Nazis' invasion in 1943 and anti-Semitism , which is deeply rooted in everyday life, are also taken up in his texts.
His debut took place in 1973 with the novel "Der Knecht und das Kraut" ( publishing house for foreign language literature Bucharest ), which tells of a wasted youth of the instinctive vagabond and deserter Harald Laudis. Laudis refuses to serve in the Romanian army and lives for a few years with the Forest Brothers in the Fogarasch Mountains, part of the Carpathian chain. The novel provides insights into the mentality of the Romanian peasantry and the arrogance and resentment of the German minorities, as well as how they dealt with the loss of their property in communist Romania under the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu . The novel covers the epoch of a Romania shaped by monarchy, Nazi rule and the beginnings of real socialism.
Works
- Roman: The Servant and the Herb , Bucharest 1973
- Prose collections: Stump and Joy, Family, Fascism , Bucharest 1978 and 1980
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cerny, Gerhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-speaking writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 23, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bucharest , Romania |