Quick Facts
PiscesBiography
Pirmin Adrian Meier (born February 21, 1947) is a Swiss author and teacher (also in the field of adult education). To fellow writer Hansjörg Schneider, Meier is "der eigenständigste und eigenwilligste Schweizer Geschichtsschreiber seiner Generation" ("the most independent-minded and original Swiss writer of history in his generation").
Life and career
Pirmin Meier was born into a butcher's family and grew up in Würenlingen. From 1963 to 1967, he attended the Benediktiner-Kollegium (a gymnasium) in Sarnen and then went on to study German language and literature, philosophy and history at the University of Zürich, where he received his PhD for a work on Reinhold Schneider in 1975. Subsequently, he worked as a school teacher and a journalist and served as joint editor in the publishing of the works of Reinhold Schneider by Suhrkamp and Insel (today a subsidiary of Suhrkamp). He also is a member of the Reinhold Schneider-Gesellschaft e.V.
Since 1979 he's been dividing this time primarily between teaching Philosophy, German and other subjects at a gymnasium in Beromünster and researching and writing his books which focus on portraying historical figures, places and traditions in broad scope and great detail.
Unusual for him, in 1984, Meier published Gsottniger Werwolf (which translates as "boiled werewolf"), a collection of poems, written in free-verse form and rife with literary allusions.
2004 saw the première of the miracle play Licht überm Tüchelweg (music by Stephan Meier) and in 2007, the Vitus-Oratorium aka Sankt Vitus in Merenschwand (music by Enrico Lavarini) was given its first performance; for both of these projects Meier provided the libretto.
He currently resides in Rickenbach.
Literary style and themes
It's not easy to peg Meier's writings – often of strongly bio- or monographical content – to any particular discipline or literary genre. Most of his books are oscillating heavily between nonfiction and fiction, between historiographical scholarly paper and historical novel.
Although meticulously researched and diligently sourced, Meier doesn't limit himself to a rigid and terse presentation of facts but employs a literary language, engages in speculation where sources are sparse or nonexistent and also otherwise often applies novelistic techniques, for example by delving into the psyche of his characters. One might consider his approach as veering into the so-called nonfiction novel territory, but then it doesn't seem to fully square with how Truman Capote coined that term, either. So it is probably best described by Meier himself who gave his book about Heinrich Federer the subtitle "eine erzählerische Recherche" ("a narrational research").
All his historical protagonists are creative thinkers whose ideas, convictions, actions and conditions often made them outsiders or even social misfits facing considerable obstacles throughout their lives. So far, these include:
- Franz Desgouttes
- Heinrich Federer
- Heinrich Hössli
- Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest
- Paracelsus
- Reinhold Schneider
- Eduard Spörri
- Niklaus von Flüe
- Joseph Viktor von Scheffel
(for the exact titles, see Selected works below)
Awards and honors
| Year | Type of recognition |
|---|---|
| 1993 | The city of Überlingen's Bodensee-Literaturpreis for Paracelsus |
| 2000 | Annual award of the Stiftung für Abendländische Besinnung |
| 2002 | Aargauer Literaturpreis for his life's work |
| 2008 | Innerschweizer Kulturpreis |
Selected works
| Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Reinhold Schneider. Kurzer Führer durch Leben und Werk | Baden-Verlag, Baden | – |
| 1978 | Form und Dissonanz. Reinhold Schneider als historiographischer Schriftsteller | Lang, Bern | 978-3-26-103-126-6 |
| 1984 | Gsottniger Werwolf. Literaten-Gedichte zur Erbauung sowie zur Unterbrechung der Erbauung | SAZ, Zürich | 978-3-90-798-700-1 |
| 1986 | Joseph Victor von Scheffel und das Seetal. Zum 100. Todestag des Dichters. In memoriam Dr. Samuel Siegrist | –, Seengen | – |
| 1989 | Fundamentalismus, eine neue Bedrohung? | IPZ, Zürich | – |
| 1991 | Memorial Muri 1841. Zur aargauischen Klosteraufhebung von 1841 | Kulturstiftung St. Martin, Muri | 978-3-85-545-051-0 |
| 1993 | Paracelsus. Arzt und Prophet. Annäherungen an Theophrastus von Hohenheim | Ammann, Zürich | 978-3-25-010-152-9 |
| 1993 | Schweiz. Geheimnisvolle Landschaft im Schatten der Alpen | Goldmann (Magisch Reisen), München | 978-3-44-212-298-1 |
| 1997 | Ich Bruder Klaus von Flüe. Eine Geschichte aus der inneren Schweiz. Ein biographischer Diskurs | Ammann, Zürich | 978-3-25-010-309-7 |
| 1999 | Die Einsamkeit des Staatsgefangenen Micheli du Crest. Eine Geschichte von Freiheit, Physik und Demokratie | Pendo, Zürich | 978-3-85-842-357-3 |
| 2001 | Eduard Spörri. Ein Alter Meister aus dem Aargau | AT, Aarau | 978-3-85-502-728-6 |
| 2001 | Mord, Philosophie und die Liebe der Männer. Franz Desgouttes und Heinrich Hössli. Eine Parallelbiographie | Pendo, Zürich | 978-3-85-842-417-4 |
| 2002 | Der Fall Federer. Priester und Schriftsteller in der Stunde der Versuchung. Eine erzählerische Recherche | Ammann, Zürich | 978-3-25-010-442-1 |
| 2005 | Landschaft der Pilger. Geheimnisvolle Orte im Herzen der Schweiz | Comenius, Luzern | 978-3-90-628-624-2 |
| 2007 | Politik, Prinzipien und das Gericht der Geschichte. Eine mit angemessener Schärfe formulierte zeitkritische Analyse | Schweizerzeit, Flaach | – |
| 2007 | Licht und Schatten über den Wassern (in Vierwaldstättersee. Lebensraum für Pflanzen, Tiere und Menschen, ed. Pius Stadelmann, pp. 296–309) | Brunner Verlag, Kriens | 978-3-03-727-010-3 |
| 2009 | Lerne das Leben und lebe das Lernen. Ausblick auf Erwin Jaeckle (1909–1997) zum 100. Geburtstag | Stiftung für Abendländische Ethik und Kultur, Zürich | 978-3-03-302-135-8 |
| 2009 | Angstfreier Blick über Wasser und Steine. Ein Fischzug ins Reich der Namen, Mütter, Heiler und Tellen (in Heimliches und Unheimliches vom Zugersee, ed. Thomas Hürlimann, pp. 47–79) | Hürlimann, Walchwil | 978-3-03-302-210-2 |