Klaus Ebner
Encyclopedia
Klaus Ebner is an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n writer, essayist, poet, and translator. Born and raised in Vienna, he began writing at an early age. He started submitting stories to magazines in the 1980s, and also published articles and books on software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

 topics after 1989. Ebner's poetry is written in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

; he also translates French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Catalan literature into German. He is a member of several Austrian writers associations, including the Grazer Autorenversammlung
Grazer Autorenversammlung
The Grazer Autorinnen Autorenversammlung was founded under the name of Grazer Autorenversammlung in March 1973 and is one of the two major Austrian writers' association . H. C. Artmann was its first president...

.

His works include cultural essays on Catalan topics, and stories dealing with Jewish traditions. His first collection of short stories was printed in 2007. In 2008, Ebner published the short novel Hominide
Hominid (novel)
Hominid is a short novel by Austrian writer Klaus Ebner. Taking place millions of years ago, it is a fictional story of a band of extinct hominids who inhabit Central Africa. Referencing the seven days of biblical Creation, the novel takes place in seven days. As the protagonist Pitar leads his...

. He has received several literature awards, among them the Youth Prize Erster Österreichischer Jugendpreis in 1982, and the Viennese Wiener Werkstattpreis in 2007. Austrian critics, such as Wolfgang Ratz
Wolfgang Ratz
Wolfgang Ratz is an Austrian writer and singer-songwriter.-Biography:Wolfgang Ratz was born in Bilbao in the Basque Country. During his youth he lived in Vienna, Austria. He studied translation for Spanish, English and French, as well as Graphical Arts at the University of Vienna...

, have praised Ebner's prose-style. The writer lives in Vienna with his family.

Life

Klaus Ebner was born on August 8, 1964 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, where he grew up. His mother, Ingeborg (b. 1944), worked as a hairdresser and his father, Walter (1939–1996), was a salesman who sold home entertainment products in the 1970s and later. His sister was born in 1969; the family moved one year later. Ebner attended Secondary School for eight years, and his first writing experiences date back to this time; at the age of twelve he wrote a short theater play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 and rehearsed it with his friends at school. However, the play was never performed.

In 1982, after a one-month university trip to Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Ebner began studying Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

, German philology, and translation
Translation studies
Translation studies is an interdiscipline containing elements of social science and the humanities, dealing with the systematic study of the theory, the description and the application of translation, interpreting or both these activities....

 at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

. At this time he was already working for a literary circle and Viennese literature magazine. After graduation in 1988 and 1989 he concentrated on various professional careers, such as translation, foreign language teaching and IT projects. In the 1990s, Ebner published articles and books on software and networking topics; while these books were written in German, he also wrote some articles in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. In 1999, he spent six weeks in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, and was the co-author of a book in English about PC servers.

In 2001, while studying European economics at a Viennese university of applied sciences
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

, he authored a paper about Islamism
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...

 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, which was published in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 2001. He also wrote several stories dealing with the Muslim civilization, such as in "Momentaufnahme" ("Snapshot") and "Flug sechs-zwo-zwo" ("Flight six-two-two)", "orgiastisch" ("orgiastic") and others. Ebner lives in Vienna with his family. He is a member of the Austrian writers' associations Grazer Autorenversammlung
Grazer Autorenversammlung
The Grazer Autorinnen Autorenversammlung was founded under the name of Grazer Autorenversammlung in March 1973 and is one of the two major Austrian writers' association . H. C. Artmann was its first president...

 (GAV) and Österreichischer Schriftstellerverband
Österreichischer Schriftstellerverband
The Austrian Writers' Association has been founded in 1945 and was thus one of the first Austrian professional associations after World War II. The association fosters the communication between writers and the contact between authors and readers and is located in Vienna, Austria...

 (ÖSV).

Work

Since graduating from school, Ebner has written short prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and radio plays. His work has been published in literary
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...

 and cultural magazines such as Sterz, one of the largest literary magazine from Styria, Austria, and in Lesezirkel, which was owned by the Viennese daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung
Wiener Zeitung
Wiener Zeitung is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the most famous newspapers in Europe and one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for its formal announcements. It was founded in 1703 under the...

. The topic of his 1988 master's thesis (Diplomarbeit), written in French, was titled "The Image of the Catalan Countries in French literature from Romanticism till Today". Excerpts of a Catalan Diary, containing travel journals and comments on Catalan culture, were published in 1987, and in several essays he discusses Catalan culture.

Increasing professional obligations after the birth of his first son in 1987 coincided with a reduction in his literary output. During the 1990s he instead focused his attention on his novel Feuers Geraun. Two early versions of this novel's chapters were published by the Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...

n magazine die Rampe in 1994 (Der Schreiber von Aram) and 1997 (Das Gesetz). These chapters deal with Jewish and biblical traditions. The publishing list on Ebner's website lists only six publications in anthologies by 2004, but seventeen are listed from between 2005 and 2008.

Ebner has additionally written narrative fiction (novels, short stories, short prose), essays and poems. His poetry is written in German and Catalan. Supported by a subsidy for literature from the Austrian government, he went to Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...

 in 2007 to write an essay about the country in the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

. He also translated the novel L'Absent written by the Catalan author Josep Navarro Santaeulàlia
Josep Navarro Santaeulàlia
Josep Navarro Santaeulàlia is a Catalan writer and poet.- Biography :Josep Navarro Santaeulàlia, whose name is always stated as J. N. Santaeulàlia on his books, was born in 1955 in Banyoles, Catalonia, where he still lives with his family. He is a poet, essayist, novelist and translator...

, into German. Ebner's cultural essays about Catalan culture, such as that of Barcelona and Andorra, have been published by the magazines Literatur und Kritik
Literatur und Kritik
The Austrian literary magazine Literatur und Kritik was founded in April 1966 by the Austrian writers Rudolf Henz, Gerhard Fritsch, and Paul Kruntorad as successor of the literary publication Wort in der Zeit, which had existed since 1955.-Profile:Compared to its predecessor, Literatur und Kritik...

and Zitig. His first collection of short stories, Lose (Destinies), was published in 2007. Of its 45 stories, twenty-two had already been printed in newspapers, literary magazines or anthologies. In 2008, Ebner published two other books of narrative fiction, among them the short novel Hominide
Hominid (novel)
Hominid is a short novel by Austrian writer Klaus Ebner. Taking place millions of years ago, it is a fictional story of a band of extinct hominids who inhabit Central Africa. Referencing the seven days of biblical Creation, the novel takes place in seven days. As the protagonist Pitar leads his...

.

Style of writing

Ebner's short stories in particular cover a multitude of topics, which, as critic Julia Rafael states, treat actual and socially relevant problems. She describes the stories included in the anthology Lose as "somewhat imploding" and says that "phantasms, irony and humor have their place, too". Moreover, Ebner's metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

s have been described as "passing beyond reality without losing ground". According to journalist Paul C. Jezek, Ebner's writing style is characterized by very careful and acerbic wording. Each sentence has a melody; his short prose especially sounds lyrical. Jezek compares Ebner's sentences to "Japanese paintings – every word has been chosen with special care". Austrian writer and critic Wolfgang Ratz made a similar observation, drawing attention to "the accurateness of Ebner's speech" and "his affinity with formal details", while singling out the sarcastic stridency of the critical stories.

Awards and accomplishments

In 1982, Ebner was awarded the Youth Prize for Literature (Großer Österreichischer Jugendpreis) for his novella Das Brandmal (The Stigma), which had attracted the attention of Austrian critic and jury member Hans Weigel
Hans Weigel
Julius Hans Weigel was an Austrian Jewish writer and a theater critic . He lived in Vienna, except during the period between 1938 and 1945, when he lived in exile in Switzerland. He was a lifetime companion of the Austrian actress Elfriede Ott.- Biography :During the time before the Anschluss of...

. Weigel compared Ebner to Austria's 19th century novella writer Ferdinand von Saar
Ferdinand von Saar
Ferdinand Ludwig Adam von Saar was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet....

. The novella tells the story of a young community servant who, through his service, becomes acquainted with a seemingly bewildered pensioner; a Viennese Jew whose bewilderment is a direct consequence of his experiences in a concentration camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...

 during the Third Reich. One year later, the novella was published in several parts in Israel's German newspaper Israel-Nachrichten
Israel-Nachrichten
Israel-Nachrichten is a German language daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv. It is a part of the Internationale Medienhilfe network.Founded 1935 by Siegfried Blumenthal. In 1950 it was one of the most sold newspapers in Israel....

. The jury of the Feldkircher Lyrikpreis
Feldkircher Lyrikpreis
The Feldkirch Poetry Award, in German Feldkircher Lyrikpreis, started by Erika Kronabitter, an Austrian artist and writer, is granted annually by the theater Theater am Saumarkt in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg/Austria. Among the sponsors, there are the Austrian government, the local authorities of...

 2005 pointed out Ebner's precise language and his "consequent work on wording". In 2007, Ebner's poem, "a paperman and sick", became one of the Mentioned Poems at the International Poetry Prize Nosside. The jury referred to the "metropolitan tristesse" in the poem which describes a "paperman" whose "meal consists of loneliness":
German
(original poem)
English
(presented to Nosside by the author)

ein Zettler krank

vergessen ganz im Suff

die Wagenräder sperren

zäh

sein Mahl besteht aus Einsamkeit

garniert

mit Sehnsucht nach Vergangenem

betört von lauten Rufen

Hoffnung

wie vor langem sie

verlosch

a paperman and sick

forlorn in drunkenness

the wheels are blocking

clumsily

his meal consists of loneliness

its garnish

is the yearning for the past

beguiled by shouts of thunder

hope

that long ago

has died


In 2008, Ebner was awarded the Wiener Werkstattpreis
Wiener Werkstattpreis
The international Wiener Werkstattpreis is a literary award established in 1992 in Austria. Since 2000, the award has been given annual. The organizers hope to bring public attention to writers who are not well known....

 for his short story "Der Flügel Last" ("The Wings' Burden"), which describes a seven year old girl who suffers from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. Another award-winning essay, "Was blieb vom Weißen Ritter?" ("What Remains of the White Knight?"), gives insight into the medieval novel Tirant lo Blanch by Joanot Martorell
Joanot Martorell
Joanot Martorell was a Valencian knight and the author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch, which is written in Valencian...

 from Valencia. Ebner intermingled his own reading experience with philological and historical information to create "Was blieb vom Weißen Ritter?".

Awards and literary prizes

  • 2010 Second Prize of the Short Prose Award “Sprachräume – Schreibwelten” of the Austrian Writers' Association
  • 2009 Travel Subsidy by the Austrian Government
  • 2008 Two Subsidies for Literature by the Austrian Government
  • 2008 Wiener Werkstattpreis 2007, Vienna
    Vienna
    Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

  • 2007 Travel Subsidy by the Austrian Government
  • 2007 Premio Internazionale di Poesia Nosside, Mention and publication in the anthology, Reggio Calabria
    Reggio Calabria
    Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...

  • 2005 Feldkircher Lyrikpreis
    Feldkircher Lyrikpreis
    The Feldkirch Poetry Award, in German Feldkircher Lyrikpreis, started by Erika Kronabitter, an Austrian artist and writer, is granted annually by the theater Theater am Saumarkt in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg/Austria. Among the sponsors, there are the Austrian government, the local authorities of...

     (4th)
  • 2004 La Catalana de Lletres 2004, Mention and publication in the anthology, Barcelona
    Barcelona
    Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

  • 1988 Erster Österreichischer Jugendpreis (Youth Prize for Literature) for the novel Nils
  • 1984 Radio Play Award by the literary magazine Texte (3rd)
  • 1982 Erster Österreichischer Jugendpreis (Youth Prize for Literature) for the novella Das Brandmal/The Stigma

German Books

  • Dort und anderswo/There and elsewhere; essays on travels and literature, Wels 2011, ISBN 978-3-9502828-9-4
  • Andorranische Impressionen; essay, Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-85129-934-2
  • wieso der Mückenschwarm dein Augenlicht umtanzt/why the midges dance around your eyes; poetry, Edition Art Science, St. Wolfgang 2011, ISBN 978-3-902157-88-1
  • Hominide/Hominid
    Hominid (novel)
    Hominid is a short novel by Austrian writer Klaus Ebner. Taking place millions of years ago, it is a fictional story of a band of extinct hominids who inhabit Central Africa. Referencing the seven days of biblical Creation, the novel takes place in seven days. As the protagonist Pitar leads his...

    ; short novel, FZA Verlag, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3950229974
  • Auf der Kippe/On the brink; prose, Arovell Verlag
    Arovell Verlag
    Arovell Verlag is an Austrian publishing house for contemporary literature. It has been founded in 1991 by the Austrian writer, artist and musician Paul Jaeg. Today, Jaeg is still the directing proprietor, while Thomas Gamsjäger is CEO....

    , Gosau 2008, ISBN 978-3902547675
  • Lose/Destinies; short stories, Edition Nove, Neckenmarkt 2007, ISBN 978-3852511979

Catalan Books

  • Vermells/Shades of Red; poetry, SetzeVents (Catalan article), Urús 2009, ISBN 978-8492555109

Other publications

  • "Josep Pla"; essay about the Catalan writer Josep Pla
    Josep Pla
    Josep Pla i Casadevall was a Catalan Spanish journalist and a popular author. As a journalist he worked in France, Italy, England, Germany and Russia, from where he wrote political and cultural chronicles in Catalan.His figure is somewhat controversial for present day Catalans...

    . In: Zitig (online magazine), Vienna 2008
  • "Was blieb vom Weißen Ritter?"; essay about the medieval novel Tirant lo Blanch. In: Wordshop X - Wiener Werkstattpreis 2007 (brochure), FZA Verlag, Vienna 2008
  • "Die Stadt und das Meer"; essay about Barcelona. In: Reisenotizen, FZA Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3950229943
  • "Die Freiheit ist eine Funzel"; essay on freedom and liberty. In: Lichtungen nr. 109 (ISSN 1012-4705), Graz 2007
  • "Von der Legende zur Modernität"; essay about Andorra. In: Literatur und Kritik nr. 411/412 (ISSN 0024-466x), Salzburg 2007
  • "Die Kunst ist der Anfang"; essay on translation of literature. In: Literarisches Österreich nr. 1/07 (magazine, ZVR 295943463), Vienna 2007
  • "Das Reizvolle der Prophezeiung"; essay on prophecies. In: Sterz nr. 99 (magazine, GZ 02Z033378M), Graz 2006
  • "Das Gfrett mit der Reform"; essay about the new German orthography. In: Literarisches Österreich nr. 2/04 (magazine, ZVR 295943463), Vienna 2004

External links

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