Peter Bichsel

Kolumnen Kolumnen

«Ich suche die Polizistin, die im Frühling 1969 auf dem Stachus in München stand und den Verkehr dirigierte. Und was würde ich ihr sagen, wenn ich sie finden würde? Ich würde ihr sagen: ‹Damals, als Sie dort standen, bin ich mit meinem Deux-Chevaux an Ihnen vorbeigefahren.›»

Peter Bichsel has been writing literary columns for Swiss newspapers and magazines since 1975. In their entirety, they make up his secret magnum opus. More than 300 of these miniatures, spanning thirty years, have now been published in a thick volume under the title «Columns Columns». It proves that they retain an astonishing freshness far beyond quotidian events. In short texts, Bichsel tells stories of our ever-changing everyday and of our days of change. «The times have changed, only the times,» he writes as early as 1977, bracing himself against possible disappointments at the hand of political and social developments. This cautiousness hints at the fact that, on the bottom of the often humoristic anecdotes, scepticism resonates – coupled with a lack of illusions regarding his writing not being able to make a difference.

Seemingly contradictory phrasings form the literary salt of these texts. They are the hallmark of a storyteller, who likes to lead his readers up the garden path of irritation, in order to let them find their way out by themselves. The equally cunning and careful contemplations lend Bichsel’s columns the voice of humanity, which prevents the author from becoming a lone cynic. Instead, he seeks to engage in a dialogue in which consent can be reached on the level of discourse and a shared language. Because that is exactly where the nucleus of democracy lies, which Peter Bichsel vouches for in his columns.

(Beat Mazenauer, translation by Simon Froehling)

Translation of title: Columns Columns

Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2005

ISBN: 3-518-41664-2