The Donkey, Too, Has a Soul
Early Texts and Columns 1963-1971
Edited by Beat Mazenauer. With an introduction by the author
The Donkey, Too, Has a Soul / Auch der Esel hat eine Seele
Early Texts and Columns 1963-1971
Edited by Beat Mazenauer. With an introduction by the author
The columns before the columns
On the author’s 85th birthday on March 24, 2020
On the author’s 85th birthday on March 24, 2020
The first of Peter Bichsel‘s P.S.-columns, which have become an institution sui generis over the course of four decades, was published in Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger in 1975. But even in the 1960s, the author had been writing numerous journalistic contributions and columns on questions of the times, that accompanied his early successes as a literary storyteller. Beat Mazenauer has gathered them in this volume – and has added a few narrative explorations from that...
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The first of Peter Bichsel‘s P.S.-columns, which have become an institution sui generis over the course of four decades, was published in Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger in 1975. But even in the 1960s, the author had been writing numerous journalistic contributions and columns on questions of the times, that accompanied his early successes as a literary storyteller. Beat Mazenauer has gathered them in this volume – and has added a few narrative explorations from that time.
Over the years, Peter Bichsel has developed his own dialectics of perception. It admits the contradictory and in the ongoing movement of thoughts it always keeps an eye on their failures as well. Bichsel, who asks and questions, is, according to Beat Mazenauer, a master of delaying »final« answers.
»[…] particularly with its complete lack of technical jargon and professional incantations, without any actualistic antics and casual mnemonics [the book] makes familar what has become strange, is a comment on the relationship between art and power, mirrored manifold and defying the pressure of topicality but leading to a deeper understanding of the present.« der Freitag
»an enlightening and enjoyable read« Hans Ulrich Probst, WOZ
»What has always distinguished Bichsel’s texts and stories is his ability to empathise with his characters and a deliberate, careful way of showing readers his own position.« Hermann Koch, Zeitung Zürich
»[…] particularly with its complete lack of technical jargon and professional incantations, without any actualistic antics and casual mnemonics [the book] makes familar what has become strange, is a comment on the relationship between art and power, mirrored manifold and defying the pressure of topicality but leading to a deeper understanding of the present.« der Freitag
»an enlightening and enjoyable read« Hans Ulrich Probst,...
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2020, 351 pages
Persons
Peter Bichsel
Author
Peter Bichsel was born in Lucerne in 1935. He lives in Bellach where he works as a freelance author. He has been a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and a corresponding member of the German Academy for Language and Literature in Darmstadt since 1985. He has been awarded numerous prizes for his works.
Peter Bichsel
Author
Peter Bichsel was born in Lucerne in 1935. He lives in Bellach where he works as a freelance author. He has been a member of the Berlin Academy of...
© Jürgen Bauer
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Latest first
Year of Publication: 2023
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 2023
Beautiful Sister Boredom
»Am I allowed to get bored – in light of world events?« Peter Bichsel once asked, almost provocatively. What the author gains from boredom (in a wide variety of guises and from very different perspectives) in this new selection of short stories and reflections is thought-provoking and anything but boring; it is astonishing, amusing – and always encouraging. »The...
Year of Publication: 2021
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 2021
Something Has to Be Done About the Banana Trees in Winter
»›Yeees. Alllright,‹ says Peter Bichsel when you ask him: How are you? When you ask him: What are you doing for Christmas?, the answer is: ›Yeees. Christmas, right, right.‹ Both entirely superfluous questions, really. His very deliberate, simple answers, however, tell a whole story. Sometimes it takes only three lines, sometimes a single word is enough to let...
Year of Publication: 2015
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 2015
Talking About the Weather
Talking about the weather, about anything, that is. Being understood, even if it’s just by someone who doesn’t even speak my language. Peter Bichsel’s columns can strike up a conversation with...
Rights sold to:
Uzbekistan (Turon-Iqbol)
Year of Publication: 1999
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1999
Cherubin Hammer and Cherubin Hammer
Peter Bichsel tells the story of Cherubin Hammer, who thinks that he is a writer and is trying, unsucessfully, to live the biography of a writer. He confronts him with a second Cherubin hammer, a...
Rights sold to:
France (Héros-Limite)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Marcos y Marcos)
Year of Publication: 1995
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1995
You Couldn’t Take a Stand Against Our Postman
Whether he talks about the suffering of professional footballers or about a strange journey on a train through Egypt, whether he chats about life in New York or an old postman who delivered his...
Rights sold to:
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Marcos y Marcos)
Year of Publication: 1993
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1993
On the City of Paris
»I believe«, says Peter Bichsel, »that the importance of literature lies not in conveying content but in maintaining storytelling. Because people need stories to survive. They...
Rights sold to:
Thailand (Gamme Magie Éditions), Azerbaijan (Alatoran), Iran (Nashr-i Naw)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: French rights (Éditions d’en bas), Italy (Marcos y Marcos), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Turkey (Ayrac), India (Bengali, Tarjama Books), India (English, Tarjama Books), Israel (Babel)
Year of Publication: 1985
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1985
The Buzzard
Buzzard is a rich, homesick native of Solothurn with whose money Solothurn’s historic city centre is »beautified« (and made unlivable). Buzzard, however, is also the name of the...
Rights sold to:
French rights (Éditions d’en bas), Italy (Casagrande)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Espasa Calpe), Norway (Damm & Søn)
Year of Publication: 1982
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1982
The Reader. The Story
Peter Bichsel‘s five lectures from 1982 are not actually lectures but stories about lectures. They are refreshingly unpretentious and always exceedingly subtle – just as his works of fiction. At...
Rights sold to:
Turkey (Ketebe)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Comma 22), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Janus), Croatia (Naklada MD)
Year of Publication: 1969
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1969
Children’s Stories
Seven stories in which strange old fogies, failing, preposterous rebels, descendants of the knights of the sad face dare to challenge the irreversibility of what already exists. Here is a man who...
Rights sold to:
Catalan rights (Los Cuarto), France (Attila), Finland (Otava), Korea (Wisdomhouse), Japan (Asahi), Thailand (Gamme Magie Éditions), Slovakia (Milanium), Lithuania (Pamėginčius), Turkey (Ketebe), Azerbaijan (Alatoran), Iran (Aftabkaran)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: UK (Calder & Boyars), USA (Delacorte), Spanish world rights (Santillana), Basque rights (Erein), Galician rights (Edición Obraidoro), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Atica), Portuguese rights (selection; ASA), Italy (Marcos y Marcos), Romanic rights (Uniun dals Grischs), Netherlands (Van Goor), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedt & Söner), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Poland (Longin Studio), Czech Republic (Host), Hungary (Holnap), Romania (RAO), Estonia (Kirijastus Ilmamaa), Croatia (Stajer-Graf), Serbia (Draganic), Slovenia (LUD Literatura), Greece (Ekdoseis Epikuros), Macedonia (Kultura), Ukraine (Golovna Specializovana Redakcija), Belorussia (Logvinau), Georgia (Bakur Sulakauri), India (Hindi; Saar Sansaar), India (Urdu; Punjab Book Department)
Year of Publication: 1967
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1967
The Seasons
This the story of a house, an ordinary residential house, and the people and objects in it. The author raises the inventory and he invents a character, who is called Kieninger. Kieninger rents a...
Rights sold to:
France (Gallimard), Turkey (Ketebe)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Comma 22), Netherlands (Meulenhoff), Denmark (Arena), Sweden (Norstedt), Korea (Bookstory), Poland (Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy), Czech Republic (Odeon)
Year of Publication: 1964
Peter BichselYear of Publication: 1964
And Really Frau Blum Would Very Much Like to Meet the Milkman
And Really Frau Blum Would Very Much Like to Meet the Milkman today is considered a classic collection of stories in which the author managed to create something unique both for his and for...
Rights sold to:
Catalan rights (Lleonard Muntaner Editor), Thailand (Gamme Magie Éditions), Georgia (Intelekti), Iran (Aftabkaran)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: UK (Calder & Boyars), Spanish world rights (Espasa Calpe), France (Gallimard), Italy (Marcos y Marcos), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedt & Söner), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Korea (Munhakdongne), Hungary (Bookart), Croatia (Mlinarec & Plavic), Slovenia (LUD Literatura), Turkey (Kabalci), Greece (Grammata), Belorussia (Logvinau)
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