Enlarge image
Gerhard Roth in 2016
Photo: Herbert Neubauer / dpa
The Austrian writer Gerhard Roth has died in his hometown of Graz at the age of 79.
This was confirmed by the Prime Minister of Styria, Hermann Schützenhöfer, on Tuesday evening.
Roth was considered one of Austria's great, and at the same time always political, storytellers and writers.
The author became famous above all for his seven-part cycle »The Archives of Silence«, on which he worked from 1978 to 1991.
The following "Orkus cycle" also received great recognition.
Most recently he wrote the Venice novel »There is no evil angel than love«.
The multiple award-winning writer was honored with the Austrian State Prize in 2016.
According to the will of his father, who was a doctor, he initially studied medicine, but dropped out.
From 1966 to 1977 he worked as a programmer and organizational manager in the Graz computer computing center in order to earn his living alongside his literary work.
From the early 1970s he published experimental prose (about 1972 »the autobiography of albert einstein«) and also worked as a playwright (»Lichtenberg«, »Longing«, »Twilight«).
»The Lake« addresses the attack on populist politicians
An advance from a publisher enabled Roth to concentrate fully on the work on the »Archives of Silence«.
In 1980 »The Quiet Ocean« was released here, the film version of which was awarded the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 1983.
The 800-page book »Common Death« published in 1984 is the center of the cycle, composed of the most diverse literary genres, in which fiction and (also photographic) documentation flow together.
In 1995, with »Der See«, the first novel in his »Orkus« cycle, Roth caused a stir in the ranks of the FPÖ, which recognized their then party leader, Jörg Haider, in a populist politician who was almost assassinated.
sol/dpa