Christian Haller (writer)

Christian Haller (born February 28, 1943) is a Swiss novelist, dramaturg and poet. He has authored more than a dozen books, including (Trilogy of Remembrance) (2008), (Clearing Mists) (2023), and (2024). Haller has been awarded a number of prizes, including the Schiller Foundation Prize (2007), the (Art Prize of the Canton of Aargau, 2015), and the Schweizer Buchpreis (Swiss Book Prize, 2023).

Early life and background Haller was born in Brugg but spent most of his youth in Suhr, Aargau. He graduated from Lehrerseminar in Wettingen, but during this study Haller decided he eventually wanted to become a writer. For one year he worked as a teacher in Rheinfelden, then he moved to Zürich, where he worked at a bookstore and made first attempts to write poetry. At the age of 27, he studied Zoology at the University of Basel.

Commissioned by the city and canton of Zürich, he examined and archived the literary estate of the Swiss philosopher and writer Adrien Turel (1890–1957).

From 1974 to 1982, Haller worked in Rüschlikon as (head of the "Social Studies" division) at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, an independent think tank and research institute focusing on economic and social trends. According to Haller:

For eight years, I organized international congresses on critical socio-political issues at the GDI. It was an exciting time. I met important figures like Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm. I traveled and got to know other countries. In 1970s America, people were talking about a major paradigm shift; new social models were emerging. To paraphrase Dürrenmatt, my work at the GDI shattered the Swiss prison.

Haller's experience in these high-level corporate and managerial strategy circles exposed him to the mechanics of institutional power. Later, Haller processed these dynamics artistically in his novel .

From 1996 through 2009, Haller worked as a columnist, guest author or contributor for the and . He is currently a freelance author. He has lived in Laufenburg, along the Rhine river, since 1994.

Literary and theater career Haller worked four years as a dramaturg at the in Baden, Switzerland. From 1994 to 2000, he was a member of the (Theater Commission for the City of Zurich).

He has written numerous short stories, novels, and plays since the 1980s. Some of his works have been translated into French, Romanian, English and Russian. With his autofictional trilogy , , and , he stands in the tradition of the of Karl Philipp Moritz and James Joyce.

Haller's novella (Clearing Mists) earned him the Schweizer Buchpreis (Swiss Book Prize) in 2023. It combines fictional storytelling with concepts of quantum physics. His two protagonists, a historian and a physicist, contemplate fundamental questions of physics on a small scale. In this narration, Haller develops striking metaphors that describe quantum mechanics, whose formalism is otherwise off-putting. Through Haller's imagery, abstract terms are filled with content. This clears the path towards understanding the fundamental equations of quantum physics.

Awards and Honors 2006 Aargauer Literaturpreis 2007 Schiller Foundation Prize for his trilogy of novels titled (Trilogy of Remembrance) 2015 (Art Prize of the Canton of Aargau) 2023 Schweizer Buchpreis (Swiss Book Prize) for the 2023 novel (Clearing the Fog)

Works Books (Collection of short stories) (Collection of stories) (Novel) (Novel)

(Poems) Paperback (collected edition) Individual editions: (Novel) (Novel) (Novel) (Poems) (Novel)

(Novel) (Poems) Paperback (collected edition) Individual editions: (autobiography vol. 1) (Novel) (autobiography vol. 2) Novel (autobiography vol. 3) (Novel) (Epic)

(Novella) (Novel) (Novella)

Stage plays

Later published as:

Christian Haller (writer)

Bron en licentie