Konrad Bayer
Encyclopedia
Konrad Bayer was an Austrian writer and poet. A member of the Wiener Gruppe
, he combined apparently irreconcilable elements—violence, hermeticism, pessimism, ecstasy, banality—and influences (dadaism, surrealism, pataphysics, Wittgenstein, Stirner, Sade et al.)—into a bizarre linguistic solipsism which has held increasing fascination for German writers of the last few decades. His most important works are the novels Der Kopf Vitus Berings (The Head of Vitus Bering) and Der sechste Sinn (The Sixth Sense), published posthumously in 1965 and 1966, respectively. Bayer committed suicide in October 1964 at the age of 32.
Wiener Gruppe
Wiener Gruppe was a small and loose avant-garde constellation of Austrian poets and writers, which arose from an older and wider postwar association of artists called Art-Club . The group was formed around 1954 under the influence of H. C. Artmann in Vienna and existed for about a decade...
, he combined apparently irreconcilable elements—violence, hermeticism, pessimism, ecstasy, banality—and influences (dadaism, surrealism, pataphysics, Wittgenstein, Stirner, Sade et al.)—into a bizarre linguistic solipsism which has held increasing fascination for German writers of the last few decades. His most important works are the novels Der Kopf Vitus Berings (The Head of Vitus Bering) and Der sechste Sinn (The Sixth Sense), published posthumously in 1965 and 1966, respectively. Bayer committed suicide in October 1964 at the age of 32.
Works
- Selected Works of Konrad Bayer by Konrad Bayer, Atlas, London, ISBN 0 947757 06 6
- The Head of Vitus Bering by Konrad Bayer, http://www.atlaspress.co.uk/index.cgi?action=view_backlist&number=6, London, ISBN 0 947757 83 X
- The Sixth Sense by Konrad Bayer, http://www.atlaspress.co.uk/index.cgi?action=view_eclectic&number=6, London, ISBN 1 900565 41 2
Films
- Ferry RadaxFerry RadaxFerry Radax is an Austrian film maker born in Vienna. He has been active in many genres since 1949. He studied at Vienna's Film Institute in 1953-54, followed by Cinecittà, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, in Rome in 1955-56. He has produced films all around Europe, and also in South...
: Sonne halt! (Sun stop!, 1960) With Konrad Bayer. An experimental film produced in Italy and Switzerland. 26 min., black and white. On DVD since 2007. - Ferry Radax: Konrad Bayer, oder: die welt bin ich und das ist meine sache (Konrad Bayer, or: the world am I and that's my business, 1969). An experimental portrait of Konrad Bayer and his suicide. 52 min., black and white. A mixture of documentary and fiction.
- Ferry Radax: Der Kopf des Vitus BeringVitus BeringVitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...
(Vitus Bering's head, 1970). 26 min., black and white. An experimental mixture of documentary and fiction after a novel-montage by Konrad Bayer.