Ernst Jandl

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ernst Jandl was an Austrian writer, poet and translator (1925–2000). He became famous for experimental poetry, especially sound poems called Sprechgedichte, which fit the ideas of concrete and visual poetry. Influenced by Dada, he began writing experimental poems that appeared in 1952 in the magazine Neue Wege. He was the life partner of Friederike Mayröcker. In 1973 he helped start the Grazer Autorenversammlung in Graz, was vice president in 1975, and served as president from 1983 to 1987. His poems play with the German language, often at the level of single letters or sounds. A famous example is "ottos mops," a poem that uses only the vowel "o." These poems are hard to translate and are often best heard aloud; his readings were well known for their power. One notable piece, "schtzngrmm," is his version of "Schützengraben" about World War I trenches and uses only letter sounds that resemble gunfire. He translated Gertrude Stein, Robert Creeley’s The Island, and John Cage’s Silence. Other well-known works include "lichtung" (also known as "Lechts & Rinks," or "light & reft") and "kneiernzuck." A short English example of his style is: "three wives i never remember my second wife i never remember my third wife i always remember what i always remember ain’t ever even had a first wife."