Charles Lewinsky
Switzerland
Charles Lewinsky was born in Zürich in 1964 and has worked as a freelance writer since 1980. In the summer he lives in French Véreux, and in winter in Zürich. His extensive and varied oeuvre includes novels, radio and theater plays, television scripts, and song lyrics. His international breakthrough came in 2006 with his novel
Lewinsky’s latest novel is centered on a historical figure: Louis Chabos was born in 1793 and grew up in an orphanage in Milan. After his first brush with war in Napoleon’s Russian campaign, he wanted only one thing: to finally live a humane life and become part of a family. In Graubünden Chabos finds a small portion of this longed-for happiness, but he loses even this when the longing for his unknown father lures him to Paris, where he seeks his purpose between glitz and filth. In a straightforward narrative, Lewinsky tells the story of an orphan looking for his origins. In this historical novel about Louis Chabos’ personal fate, Roman Bucheli (NZZ) finds a larger, more comprehensive meaning: “Lewinsky allows readers to witness a difficult birth. But his novel recounts a completely different kind of birth: how an individual differentiates himself from the faceless masses. And how the modern ‘I’ must constantly reinvent itself. Existential philosophy has never been this entertaining and moving.”
28th Leukerbad International Literary Festival:
