Peter von Matt

Das Kalb vor der Gotthardpost

«Nothingness? The stink of gas? God? That was where DADA sought to penetrate, behind all edifices, without knowing whether muck would be there or the absolute. That was why DADA had to rip things open, tear them to pieces, play with the variegated particles.»

Peter von Matt is a phenomenon: both an academic and an essayist, a writer who masterfully combines precision and readability. When Peter von Matt has something to say, everyone listens.
'Das Kalb vor der Gotthardpost' (The Calf in the path of the Gotthard Mail Coach, 2012) is his most recent collection of essays and articles on literature and politics in Switzerland. Peter von Matt applies his customary subtle analysis to a variety of topics, such as Switzerland and its myths, contemporary language issues, or the treatment of immigrants. He is interested in the contradictions that continue to characterize Swiss politics and Swiss literature. "The combination of conservatism and belief in progress, a Janus-headed forward and backward gaze, is characteristic of Swiss political and literary life."
Switzerland as a country is rife with ambivalence. On the one hand, it barricades itself against the outside world, but on the other hand it is tied tight to the rest of the world and reliant on international exchange. This conflict between retreat and renewal, local and global, has been taken up again and again by Switzerland's major writers, many of whom are profiled in this book: writers such as Gottfried Keller, Robert Walser, Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, but also lesser-known writers such as Adelheid Duvanel, Beat Sterchi and Otto F. Walter. One thing remains clear: Peter von Matt's witty analyses of their work will excite interest in a broad readership far beyond the borders of Switzerland.

(Martin Zingg, trans. by Marcy Goldberg)

Recommended for translation by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia:
www.12swissbooks.ch
«Das Kalb vor der Gotthardpost» was awarded the Swiss Book Prize 2012.

Translation of title: The Calf in the path of the Gotthard Mail Coach

Hanser Verlag, München 2012

ISBN: 978-3-446-23880-0