Switzerland’s ‘Grand Prix Literatur’ award goes to Adolf Muschg

Adolf Muschg was honoured with the Swiss Grand Prix Literatur 2015 award for his complete literary works on Thursday. Federal Councillor Alain Berset presented the prize to the writer during the ceremony of the Swiss literary awards held at the Swiss National Library. The jury emphasised the humanism and commitment that characterise his creative work. The award is endowed with prize money of CHF 40,000.

The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is bestowing the Swiss literary awards for the third time. The aim of these awards is to make Swiss literature better known domestically and abroad. The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) mentions that the writer, who is known for his tirelessly critical mind, can look back on a varied body of literary work, consisting of novels and essays on literature, Europe, Japan and Gottfried Keller or Goethe.

Adolf Muschg was Professor for German Language and Literature at ETH Zurich from 1970. He became the first Head of the Collegium Helveticum at the Semper observatory in 1997. Emeritus professor status was conferred on him as of the end of September 1999.

His teaching focused on making contemporary literature accessible in a lively manner and on working with the texts written by seminar attendees and up-and-coming authors. In his research, he predominantly examined Gottfried Keller, Goethe and Wolfram von Eschenbach as well as the interface between literature and therapy.