Pirmin Meier
Encyclopedia
Pirmin Adrian Meier is a Swiss
author
and teacher (also in the field of adult education
). To fellow writer Hansjörg Schneider, Meier is "der eigenständigste und eigenwilligste Schweizer Geschichtsschreiber seiner Generation" ("the most independent-minded and original Swiss historiographer of his generation").
's family and grew up in Würenlingen
. From 1963 to 1967, he attended the Benediktiner-Kollegium (a gymnasium
) in Sarnen
and then went on to study German language and literature
, philosophy
and history
at the University of Zürich
, where he received his Ph.D.
for a work on Reinhold Schneider
in 1975. Subsequently, he worked as a school teacher and a journalist and served as joint editor in the publishing of the works of Reinhold Schneider by Suhrkamp
and Insel (today a subsidiary of Suhrkamp). He also is a member of the Reinhold Schneider-Gesellschaft e.V.
Since 1979 he's been dividing this time primarily between teaching Philosophy, German and other subjects at a gymnasium in Beromünster
and researching and writing his books which focus on portraying historical figures, places and traditions in broad scope and great detail.
Unusual for him, in 1984, Meier published Gsottniger Werwolf (which translates as "boiled werewolf"), a collection of poems, written in free-verse form and rife with literary allusions.
2004 saw the première of the miracle play Licht überm Tüchelweg (music by Stephan Meier) and in 2007, the Vitus-Oratorium aka Sankt Vitus in Merenschwand (music by Enrico Lavarini) was given its first performance; for both of these projects Meier provided the libretto
.
He currently resides in Rickenbach
.
or monographical content – to any particular discipline or literary genre. Most of his books are oscillating heavily between nonfiction and fiction, between historiographical
scholarly paper and historical novel
.
Although meticulously researched and diligently sourced, Meier doesn't limit himself to a rigid and terse presentation of facts but employs a literary language, engages in speculation where sources are sparse or nonexistent and also otherwise often applies novelistic techniques, for example by delving into the psyche of his characters. One might consider his approach as veering into the so-called nonfiction novel territory, but then it doesn't seem to fully square with how Truman Capote
coined that term, either. So it is probably best described by Meier himself who gave his book about Heinrich Federer the subtitle "eine erzählerische Recherche" ("a narrational research").
All his historical protagonists are creative thinkers whose ideas, convictions, actions and conditions often made them outsiders or even social misfits facing considerable obstacles throughout their lives. So far, these include:
(for the exact titles, see Selected works below)
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and teacher (also in the field of adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
). To fellow writer Hansjörg Schneider, Meier is "der eigenständigste und eigenwilligste Schweizer Geschichtsschreiber seiner Generation" ("the most independent-minded and original Swiss historiographer of his generation").
Life and career
Pirmin Meier was born into a butcherButcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
's family and grew up in Würenlingen
Würenlingen
Würenlingen is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Würenlingen has an area, , of . Of this area, 29.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.4% is forested...
. From 1963 to 1967, he attended the Benediktiner-Kollegium (a gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
) in Sarnen
Sarnen
Sarnen is the capital of the canton of Obwalden situated on the shores of Lake Sarnen , Switzerland. It has a population of just under 10,000 and is surrounded by countryside and mountains. Sarnen is located 20 km south of Lucerne.- History :...
and then went on to study German language and literature
German studies
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents, and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the University of Zürich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
, where he received his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
for a work on Reinhold Schneider
Reinhold Schneider
Reinhold Schneider was a German poet who also wrote novels. Initially his works were less religious, but later his poetry had a Christian and specifically Catholic influence. His first works included Luís de Camões and Portugal He had written anti-war poems, which were banned in Nazi Germany...
in 1975. Subsequently, he worked as a school teacher and a journalist and served as joint editor in the publishing of the works of Reinhold Schneider by Suhrkamp
Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature.In January 2010 the headquarters of the company moved from Frankfurt to Berlin.-Early history:...
and Insel (today a subsidiary of Suhrkamp). He also is a member of the Reinhold Schneider-Gesellschaft e.V.
Since 1979 he's been dividing this time primarily between teaching Philosophy, German and other subjects at a gymnasium in Beromünster
Beromünster
Beromünster is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009 Gunzwil became part of Beromünster.-History:...
and researching and writing his books which focus on portraying historical figures, places and traditions in broad scope and great detail.
Unusual for him, in 1984, Meier published Gsottniger Werwolf (which translates as "boiled werewolf"), a collection of poems, written in free-verse form and rife with literary allusions.
2004 saw the première of the miracle play Licht überm Tüchelweg (music by Stephan Meier) and in 2007, the Vitus-Oratorium aka Sankt Vitus in Merenschwand (music by Enrico Lavarini) was given its first performance; for both of these projects Meier provided the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
.
He currently resides in Rickenbach
Rickenbach, Lucerne
Rickenbach is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.-Geography:Rickenbach has an area of . Of this area, 62.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 26.3% is forested. The rest of the land, is settled. , 26.28% of the total land area was forested...
.
Literary style and themes
It's not easy to peg Meier's writings – often of strongly bio-Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
or monographical content – to any particular discipline or literary genre. Most of his books are oscillating heavily between nonfiction and fiction, between historiographical
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
scholarly paper and historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
.
Although meticulously researched and diligently sourced, Meier doesn't limit himself to a rigid and terse presentation of facts but employs a literary language, engages in speculation where sources are sparse or nonexistent and also otherwise often applies novelistic techniques, for example by delving into the psyche of his characters. One might consider his approach as veering into the so-called nonfiction novel territory, but then it doesn't seem to fully square with how Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
coined that term, either. So it is probably best described by Meier himself who gave his book about Heinrich Federer the subtitle "eine erzählerische Recherche" ("a narrational research").
All his historical protagonists are creative thinkers whose ideas, convictions, actions and conditions often made them outsiders or even social misfits facing considerable obstacles throughout their lives. So far, these include:
- Franz Desgouttes
- Heinrich Federer
- Heinrich HössliHeinrich HössliHeinrich Hössli , sometimes written as Hößli, was a Swiss hatter and author. His book Eros Die Männerliebe der Griechen surveyed references to same-sex love in ancient Greek literature and more recent research, and was one of the first works in the 19th century that defended love between...
- Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du CrestJacques-Barthélemy Micheli du CrestJacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest was a Genevan military engineer, physicist and cartographer. Born into the aristocracy, he eventually fled to France as an enemy of Geneva and eventually spent his later years in Aarburg Castle as a political prisoner. During his time there, he mapped the Alps...
- ParacelsusParacelsusParacelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....
- Reinhold Schneider
- Eduard Spörri
- Niklaus von FlüeNicholas of FlueSaint Nicholas of Flüe was a Swiss hermit and ascetic who is the patron saint of Switzerland. He is sometimes invoked as "Brother Klaus."...
- Joseph Viktor von ScheffelJoseph Viktor von ScheffelJoseph Victor von Scheffel was a German poet and novelist.-Biography:He was born at Karlsruhe. His father, a retired major in the Baden army, was a civil engineer and member of the commission for regulating the course of the Rhine; his mother, née Josephine Krederer, the daughter of a prosperous...
(for the exact titles, see Selected works below)
Awards and honors
| Year | Type of recognition |
|---|---|
| 1993 | The city of Überlingen Überlingen Überlingen is a city on the northern shore of Lake Constance . After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second largest city in the Bodenseekreis , and a central point for the outlying communities... 's Bodensee-Literaturpreis Bodensee-Literaturpreis Bodensee-Literaturpreis is a literary prize awarded in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.- Winners :*1954 Wolfram von den Steinen forNotker der Dichter und seine geistige Welt*1955 Friedrich Georg Jünger for„sein lyrisches Werk“... for Paracelsus |
| 2000 | Annual award of the Stiftung für Abendländische Besinnung |
| 2002 | Aargauer Literaturpreis for his life's work |
| 2008 | Innerschweizer Kulturpreis |
Selected works
| Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN-13 International Standard Book Number The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering code created by Gordon Foster, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Reinhold Schneider. Kurzer Führer durch Leben und Werk | Baden-Verlag, Baden | – |
| 1978 | Form und Dissonanz. Reinhold Schneider als historiographischer Schriftsteller | Lang, Bern | 978-3-26-103-126-6 |
| 1984 | Gsottniger Werwolf. Literaten-Gedichte zur Erbauung sowie zur Unterbrechung der Erbauung | SAZ, Zürich | 978-3-90-798-700-1 |
| 1986 | Joseph Victor von Scheffel und das Seetal. Zum 100. Todestag des Dichters. In memoriam Dr. Samuel Siegrist | –, Seengen | – |
| 1989 | Fundamentalismus, eine neue Bedrohung? | IPZ, Zürich | – |
| 1991 | Memorial Muri 1841. Zur aargauischen Klosteraufhebung von 1841 | Kulturstiftung St. Martin, Muri | 978-3-85-545-051-0 |
| 1993 | Paracelsus. Arzt und Prophet. Annäherungen an Theophrastus von Hohenheim | Ammann, Zürich | 978-3-25-010-152-9 |
| 1993 | Schweiz. Geheimnisvolle Landschaft im Schatten der Alpen | Goldmann (Magisch Reisen), München | 978-3-44-212-298-1 |
| 1997 | Ich Bruder Klaus von Flüe. Eine Geschichte aus der inneren Schweiz. Ein biographischer Diskurs | Ammann, Zürich | 978-3-25-010-309-7 |
| 1999 | Die Einsamkeit des Staatsgefangenen Micheli du Crest. Eine Geschichte von Freiheit, Physik und Demokratie | Pendo, Zürich | 978-3-85-842-357-3 |
| 2001 | Eduard Spörri. Ein Alter Meister aus dem Aargau | AT, Aarau | 978-3-85-502-728-6 |
| 2001 | Mord, Philosophie und die Liebe der Männer. Franz Desgouttes und Heinrich Hössli. Eine Parallelbiographie | Pendo, Zürich | 978-3-85-842-417-4 |
| 2002 | Der Fall Federer. Priester und Schriftsteller in der Stunde der Versuchung. Eine erzählerische Recherche | Ammann, Zürich | 978-3-25-010-442-1 |
| 2005 | Landschaft der Pilger. Geheimnisvolle Orte im Herzen der Schweiz | Comenius, Luzern | 978-3-90-628-624-2 |
| 2007 | Politik, Prinzipien und das Gericht der Geschichte. Eine mit angemessener Schärfe formulierte zeitkritische Analyse | Schweizerzeit, Flaach | – |
| 2007 | Licht und Schatten über den Wassern (in Vierwaldstättersee. Lebensraum für Pflanzen, Tiere und Menschen, ed. Pius Stadelmann, pp. 296–309) | Brunner Verlag, Kriens | 978-3-03-727-010-3 |
| 2009 | Lerne das Leben und lebe das Lernen. Ausblick auf Erwin Jaeckle (1909–1997) zum 100. Geburtstag | Stiftung für Abendländische Ethik und Kultur, Zürich | 978-3-03-302-135-8 |
| 2009 | Angstfreier Blick über Wasser und Steine. Ein Fischzug ins Reich der Namen, Mütter, Heiler und Tellen (in Heimliches und Unheimliches vom Zugersee, ed. Thomas Hürlimann, pp. 47–79) | Hürlimann, Walchwil | 978-3-03-302-210-2 |
External links
- Pirmin Meier in AdS' Lexikon der Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz
- Pirmin Meier in Bibliomedia's Lexikon der Schweizer Autorinnen und Autoren
- Pirmin Meier at perlentaucher.de – das KulturmagazinPerlentaucherPerlentaucher is a German online magazine. It was founded and is being published by Anja Seeliger and Thierry Chervel and has been available since March 15, 2000....
- Reinhold Schneider-Gesellschaft e.V. – Official website