Peter Stefan Jungk
2003 Max Kade Writer-in-residence
Mr. Jungk was born in 1952 in Santa Monica, California and moved to Vienna with his parents at the age of five. He lived in Berlin from 1968-1970, then in Salzburg, Austria, where he completed his Gymnasium. From 1973-74, he was assistant to the director of the Basel Theatre (Switzerland), and from 1974 to 1976 he studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. This was followed by another assistant directorship for the production of Peter Handke's The Lefthanded Woman. In 1980, he spent a year studying in Israel. After that he returned to Vienna until 1988. Since then he has been living in Paris as author, film script author, translator, and essayist.
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Peter Stephan Jungk has published extensively, his creative works extending also to the media of radio and television. Among his works are:
Prose works:
- Stechpalmenwald (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1978)
- Rundgang (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1981)
- Das Franz-Werfel-Buch ed. by Peter Stephan Jungk (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1987)
- Franz Werfel Eine Lebensgeschichte (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1987)
- Tigor (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1991)
- Vier Frauen Porträts. Photographien von Lillian Birnbaum. Mit Texten von Peter Stephan Jungk. (Heidelberg: Braus, 1994)
- Die Unruhe der Stella Federspiel (Munich: List, 1996)
- Die Erbschaft (Munich: List, 1999)
- Der König von Amerika (Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 2001)
Radio plays:
- Oktave (South German Radio)
- Suchkraft (West German Radio)
Television:
- Ein Weltfreund zwischen den Welten (script and direction. Television film on Franz Werfel. ORF/ZDF. 1988.)
- Meister der Nacht (film script and direction. Portrait of the writer Leo Perutz ORF/ZDF, 1989.)
- Dunkles Licht Documentary film about the blind photographer and writer Eugen Bacvar. Direction. Orf/ZDF. 1992.
Works in English translation:
- Franz Werfel : a Life in Prague, Vienna, and Hollywood. Translated from the German by Anselm Hollo (New York : Grove Weidenfeld, 1990)
- The Snowflake Constant Translated by Michael Hofmann (London : Faber and Faber, 2002)
- English translation of the novel Tigor.
In addition, Peter Stephan Jungk has just been nominated for the following prize:
(13 March 2003 Arts Council England Press Release)
Shortlist announced for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2003
Arts Council England has announced today (Thursday) the shortlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2003, in association with Champagne Taittinger.
Six contenders from 67 entries have been short-listed for the prize, worth Ł10,000. They are:
-The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza
Translated from the Spanish by Sonia Soto, published by Abacus
-The Cave by José Saramago
Translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa, published by Harvill
-The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
Translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman, published by Faber and Faber
-The Snowflake Constant by Peter Stephan Jungk
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann, published by Faber and Faber
-The Visit of the Royal Physician by Per Olov Enquist
Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally, published by Harvill
-Ł9.99 by Frédéric Beigbeder
Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter, published by Picador
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The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize aims to honour a great work of fiction by a living author which has been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom.
Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of The Independent and one of the judges, said:
"The shortlist for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize introduces British readers to some of the most exciting and original writers active around the globe today. This outstanding group of novels joins celebrated figures such as Mario Vargas Llosa and José Saramago with gifted younger authors, who include Frédéric Beigbeder and José Carlos Somoza. This is a thrilling and absorbing batch of works, stretching in style from historical thriller to social satire, from artful whodunnit to tragi-comic fable. It proves again that the tough but rewarding art of translation opens an essential window onto new worlds of stories and ideas."
