Obituary: Peter Bichsel, the master of short prose

According to his close circle of family and friends, Peter Bichsel “passed away peacefully” on Saturday. He would have celebrated his 90th birthday on March 24. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

The popular Swiss writer Peter Bichsel, who passed away on March 15 aged 89, was best known for his short stories, which showcased his distinctive simple writing style and use of language. He was a writer of few words but one who always had much to say.

Bichsel’s literary work comprises short stories, but also essays, articles and speeches, a volume of children’s stories and several anthologies of newspaper columns.

Despite his relatively small body of work, he has been celebrated as a master storyteller for around 60 years and was considered one of the most important voices in Swiss literature.

Bichsel made his breakthrough at the age of 29 with the collection of short stories Eigentlich möchte Frau Blum den Milchmann kennenlernen (And Really Frau Blum Would Very Much Like to Meet the Milkman). This immediately garnered him considerable recognition, even abroad.

Thanks to its laconic tone and simple style, the 21 short stories featuring characters who wait and speculate on mundane things earned him praise and acceptance into the avant-garde Gruppe 47. This group of German-language writers gave him their annual award in 1965. 

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This was followed in 1969 by Kindergeschichten (There Is No Such Place as America; also published as Stories for Children), which was just as successful.

Peter Bichsel in his house in Zuchwil, near Solothurn, in 1975. Keystone / Hans Schlegel

A passionate observer of Switzerland

The centrepiece of his literary output, however, are his magazine and newspaper columns for Weltwoche, Tages-Anzeiger-Magazin, Schweizer Illustrierte and Luzerner Neueste Nachrichten from 1968 onwards. These articles, many of which were harshly critical of the Swiss government, have been published in several anthologies since 1975, including in book form.

Here Bichsel revealed himself as a passionate observer of Switzerland, a controversial contemporary and a citizen.

He always found himself sitting “between two stools”, he once said, referring to his attitudes towards the student movement of 1968. In his columns he expressed his views on other important issues at the time, such as the Jura conflict, when Swiss militia soldiers were given live ammunition, or the systematic sentencing of conscientious objectors.

Bichsel, the socialist

Peter Bichsel was born in Lucerne in 1935, the son of a local craftsman. When he was six years old his family moved to Olten in northern Switzerland. He later attended teacher training college in Solothurn, where he worked as a primary school teacher until 1968 and then again in 1973.

In 1956 he married the actress Therese Spörri. He joined the left-wing Social Democratic Party in 1957 and remained a member until 1995.

For seven years, from 1974 to 1981, he was the personal advisor and speechwriter to the charismatic Social Democratic government minister Willi Ritschard, with whom he maintained a close friendship. He was also one of the co-founders of the Olten Group, a club of left-wing Swiss writers, and the Solothurn Literature Festival.

Bichsel took a stand on philosophical and everyday problems and made his name as someone who was extremely critical of his country. He was friends with the Swiss author Max Frisch and shared his commitment, seeing himself as a true socialist.

He leaves behind a tremendous legacy and huge void, not only in Solothurn and his favourite Kreuz restaurant, where he was often to be found, but throughout Switzerland.

The Alpine nation has lost not only its most popular writer, but also one of its most distinctive voices – a writer of few words but one who always had much to say.

Adapted from German by DeepL/sb/gw