ERNST JANDL was born in Vienna in 1925.
Studies of Germanistics and English philology, promotion in 1950, working as a
teacher at a grammar school for many years, lives in Vienna. Since 1954 Friendship
with Friederike Mayröcker. 1971 guest professor at the University of Texas, Austin.
Member of: the Academy of Arts, Berlin, the German Academy
for Language and Poetry, Darmstadt, the Bavarian Academy
of Fine Arts, Munich, the Austrian Art-Senate, the City Park Forum, Graz,
the writer's guild of Graz. 1968: radio-play-award, together with Friederike Mayröcker.
1974: Georg-Trakl-award for lyric poetry; 1976: Vienna-award for
literature; 1978: national award of Austria;
1980: dramatist-award of Mülheim for Aus der Fremde;
1982: manuscript-award of the Steiermark and Anton-Wildgans-award
of the Austrian industry; 1984: Great national award of Austria
and Georg-Büchner-award; October to December 1984: guest professor
at the university of Frankfurt - poetry-lectures in Frankfurt; 1985:
award of the German record-critics for ernst jandl: bist
eulen?; 1986: golden medal of Vienna; 1987: literature-award for
grotesque humour; 1988: German cabaret-award; 1989: radio-play-award
of Frankfurt; 1990: Peter-Huchel-award for the book idyllen; 1990:
Austrian medal for science and art; 1993: Kleist-award; 1995: Friedrich-Hölderlin-award;
1996: Great Austrian order of merit.
(source: Peter und die Kuh, Luchterhand, München 1996)
man on carpet
why should i
not be sitting on the floor
particularly if there is
a carpet on the floor
but how
did i get
to sit on the floor
in the first place?
it was a breakdown
of the human race
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