Robert Menasse

(*1954 in Vienna) studied German language and literature, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. Between 1981 and 1988 he worked at the Institute of Literature Theory at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His first novel Sinnliche Gewissheit, published in 1988, is a semi-autobiographical tale of Austrians living in exile in Brazil. His later novels were Selige Zeiten, brüchige Welt (1991, Engl. Wings of Stone), Schubumkehr (1995, Engl. Reverse Thrust) and Die Vertreibung aus der Hölle (2001, Engl. Expulsion from Hell). Most recently, he wrote about the future of Europe and the European Union, criticizing tendencies of re-nationalization movements, and developing his vision of the European Republic, about which he debates among others in the essay Der Europäische Landbote (2012, Engl. Enraged Citizens, European Peace and Democratic Deficits), and most recently in the novel Die Hauptstadt (2017, Engl. The Capital) awarded with the German Book Prize. Menasse has been honored with numerous awards for his literary oeuvre, among others with the Heimito-von-Doderer-Preis (1990), Hugo-Ball-Preis (1996), Friedrich-Hölderlin-Literaturpreis (2002), Heinrich-Mann-Preis (2013), Max Frisch-Preis der Stadt Zürich (2014), and the Prix du livre européen (2015).

Photo credit by Rafaela Proell.