Gert Friedrich Jonke (8 February 1946 – 4 January 2009) was an Austrianpoet, playwright and novelist.[1]
Life
Jonke was born and educated in Klagenfurt, Austria. He attended the Gymnasium (university preparatory school) and the Conservatory. After he served his mandatory military service, he continued his studies at the College of Music and Representative Art in Vienna in the Film and Television Department. He did not, however, complete his studies there, nor his studies of History, Philosophy, Music Theory, or German Studies at the University of Vienna which followed.
He became friends with the writers' circle of Graz, a centre of the Austrian literary avant garde of the time. In 1969 he published his first novel, Geometrischer Heimatroman (Geometric Regional Novel), which met with some success. The book received a positive review by Peter Handke in Der Spiegel.[1]
In 1971 he received a scholarship to study in West Berlin, where he stayed for five years. He then lived for a year in London, followed by extensive travels throughout the Middle East and South America. In 1977, he moved with his partner to Argentina, where he met Borges.[2] He returned to Austria in the 1980s.
Jonke died of cancer at the age of 62 on 4 January 2009, in Vienna. He was given a grave of honor (German: Ehrengrab) in the Zentralfriedhof, the central cemetery in Vienna.[3]
Works
Prose
Geometrischer Heimatroman (1969). Geometric Regional Novel, trans. Johannes W. Vazulik (Dalkey Archive, 1994)
Beginn einer Verzweiflung: Epiloge (1970, short stories). The Beginnings of a Despair: Epilogues
Musikgeschichte (1970, short stories). Music History
Glashausbesichtigung (1970). A Tour of Glass Houses
Die Vermehrung der Leuchttürme (1971). The Multiplication of the Lighthouses
Schule der Geläufigkeit: Erzählungen (1977). Homage to Czerny: Studies in Virtuoso Technique, trans. Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive, 2008)
Der ferne Klang (1979). The Distant Sound, trans. Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive, 2010)
Die erste Reise zum unerforschten Grund des stillen Horizonts (1980). Collection of revised versions of works written between 1965 and 1980: "Wiederholung des Festes"; Das System von Wien; Geometrischer Heimatroman; Glashausbesichtigung; Die Hinterhältigkeit der Windmaschinen; and Die Vermehrung der Leuchttürme
Erwachen zum großen Schlafkrieg (1982). Awakening to the Great Sleep War, trans. Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive, 2012)
Der Kopf des Georg Friedrich Händel (1988). The Head of George Frederick Handel, included in the English-language compilation Blinding Moment
Stoffgewitter (1996). Thunderbolts of Cloth. Includes the novella Geblendeter Augenblick: Anton Weberns Tod (Blinding Moment) and the autobiographical essay "Individuum und Metamorphose".
Himmelstraße – Erdbrustplatz oder Das System von Wien (1999). The System of Vienna: From Heaven Street to Earth Mound Square, trans. Vincent Kling (Dalkey Archive, 2009)
Reworked stories from Musikgeschichte (1970), Beginn einer Verzweiflung (1970) and Das System von Wien
Plays and poems
Damals vor Graz, Forum Stadtpark Graz 1989
Die Hinterhältigkeit der Windmaschinen: Tragodie in drei Akten (1971). The Deviousness of the Wind Machines
Im Inland und im Ausland auch (1974). At Home as Well as Abroad: Poems, Radio Plays, Theatrical Plays
Sanftwut oder Der Ohrenmaschinist: Eine Theatersonate (Gentle Rage, or The Ear Machinist), Styriarte Graz 1990
