Christoph Geiser

Switzerland

Christoph Geiser

Christoph Geiser was born in 1949 in Basel, where he grew up. He initially wanted to study theology but went astray in sociology. He abandoned his studies after a short time and earned his living as a journalist. He currently works as a freelance writer in Bern and Berlin, primarily writing novels. His wide-ranging oeuvre has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Great Literature Prize of the city and canton of Bern.

With Schöne Bescherung (A Fine Mess), Christoph Geiser concludes his family trilogy. The books are separated by thirty-five years and a break with bourgeois literary writing and conventional styles. The trilogy represents a struggle for freedom of style and thought, but with room for meditations on mortality and death.

Geiser’s style changed radically: the long, convoluted sentences appropriate to the realistic bourgeois novel gave way to a breathless staccato. The smooth narrative structure was disrupted, and a plot cannot be followed. Geiser remains a breaker of taboos with an idiosyncratic style and a language that prioritizes sound and rhythm over content.

The Secession Press has begun an edition of Christoph Geiser’s complete works, which will collect his scattered works that are, unfortunately, almost completely out of print, and will supply them with expert annotations, giving this pioneer of queer Swiss literature once again a prominent and lasting platform. This unique edition of his writing shows that Christoph Geiser is one of the most important contemporary Swiss writers. Volumes One to Five and Volume Ten of the Collected Works have been published.


Verfehlte Orte: – oder: Die Isolierung der Zeichen. Erzählungen. Secession 2019
Schöne Bescherung. Kein Familienroman. Offizin 2013 und Secession 2022

Back...

28th Leukerbad International Literary Festival: 6.21.–23.2024