Robert Menasse

Robert Menasse (born June 21 1954 in Vienna) is an Austrian writer.

Related Topics:
June 21 - 1954 - Vienna - Austrian

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As an undergraduate, Menasse studied in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesis "Der Typus des Außenseiters im Literaturbetrieb. Am Beispiel Hermann Schürrer" ("The outsider phenotype within literature").

Related Topics:
Vienna - Salzburg - Messina - 1980 - Hermann Schürrer

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Between 1981 and 1988 Menasse worked as a junior lecturer at the Institute of Literature Theory at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He has been working as a freelance publicist, columnist and translator of novels from Portuguese into German ever since.

Related Topics:
University of São Paulo - Brazil - Portuguese - German

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His first novel Sinnliche Gewissheit, published in 1988, is a semi-autobiographical tale of Austrians living in exile in Brazil.

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The magazine Literatur und Kritik published Menasse's first poem ("Kopfwehmut") in 1989.

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His later novels were Seelige Zeiten, brüchige Welt (1991, translated into English as Wings of Stone ISBN 0714542954), Schubumkehr (1995) and Die Vertreibung aus der Hölle (2001).

Related Topics:
1991 - 1995 - 2001

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In 1990 Robert Menasse was the first writer to be awarded the Heimito von Doderer Prize. Since returning to Europe from Brazil, Menasse has mainly lived in the cities of Berlin, Vienna and Amsterdam. He currently lives in Vienna and is married.

Related Topics:
1990 - Heimito von Doderer - Europe - Berlin - Amsterdam

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Menasse's language is at times playful and at times subtly sarcastic. Recurring themes in his

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novels are loneliness and alienation within human relationships and as a result of his character's lives' circumstances. In his work Menasse often criticises the latent form of antisemitism still widespread in

Related Topics:
Loneliness - Alienation - Antisemitism

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the German-speaking world today.

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