LiteraturSchweiz

Reading tip

Ernst Burren, Schneewauzer: Ernst Burren comes from Oberdorf in Canton Solothurn, where he was born and still lives. The town remains a source of material and language for the writer. The son of an innkeeper, he spent his childhood listening to people’s stories in the «Beiz» (Swiss-German dialect for restaurant). This casual to-and-fro is the wavelength one tunes into when reading Burren’s texts. The author, who writes and publishes his work exclusively in dialect, is one of the most significant and productive authors of the genre. In his confrontation with the work of Kurt Marti and Eugen Gomringer, Ernst Burren is considered as a new voice in Swiss dialect literature, as the publication of his first collection of poetry «derfür und derwider» in 1970 showed. His novel «Schneewauzer» is a dialect narrative typical of Burren, who employs all the possibilities of everyday life in Swiss society: for example in the story of company meeting to plan a celebration, which he tells from the perspective of a cleaning lady. The author arranges his stories using inner monologues, thereby underscoring the disruptions and inconsistencies that underlie apparently simple discussions, which become increasingly dubious in Burren’s literary representation of them. His protagonists are men and women, «simple folk», who chat or engage in monologues about the things that concern them in their everyday lives. Through the outwardly simple language, empty sayings and clichéd expressions the reader suddenly becomes aware of underlying human tragedies and existential predicaments. Nevertheless, Burren’s narratives never fail to see the funny side, even if the laughter sometimes catches in your throat. (Rudolf Probst, transl. by Andrea Mason Willfratt)