Peter von Matt

Born in Lucerne on 20 May 1937,^[1] Peter von Matt grew up in Stans in the canton of Nidwalden.^[2] He studied art history as well as German and English studies in Zurich and received a doctorate with Emil Staiger on Franz Grillparzer.^[3] In 1970, he received his post doctorate lecturing qualifications with a work on E. T. A. Hoffmann.^[3]

From 1976 to 2002, von Matt taught at the University of Zurich as a Professor of Newer German Literature.^[4] He was a guest professor at Stanford University in 1980 and a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin in 1992/93.^[5] Von Matt was a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung,^[6] the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Academia Europaea,^[7] the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities,^[8] and the Sächsische Akademie der Künste (Saxon Academy of the Arts).^[5] He wrote regular contributions for the Frankfurter Anthologie.^[9] He regularly appeared on Marcel Reich-Ranicki's literary talk show Literarisches Quartett on German public television.^[10] Reich-Ranicki once called von Matt the "best writer of German-speaking Switzerland".^[11] Von Matt was a friend of Max Frisch.^[10] In his essays, von Matt also wrote on social and political issues,^[12] and explored the European identity and the Swiss soul.^[13] In a legendary appearance at the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 1991, von Matt protested against prejudices towards Swiss literature: "As soon as a Swiss person reads, it is immediately said that they have a tongue like a forest snail".^[14] In his book Liebesverrat : die Treulosen in der Literatur, he guided entertainingly through love dramas in world literature.^[15]

He was married to literary critic Beatrice von Matt-Albrecht and lived with her in Dübendorf near Zurich.^[16][17]

Von Matt died in Zurich on 21 April 2025, at the age of 87.^[18][19]

• Matt, Peter von (2000). ...fertig ist das Angesicht : zur Literaturgeschichte des menschlichen Gesichts [...the Face is done. About the Literary History of the human Faces] (in German). München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-423-30769-2. OCLC 48476997.
• —— (2004). Liebesverrat : die Treulosen in der Literatur [Romantic Treachery - The Faithless in Literatur] (in German). München: Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl. ISBN 3-423-30143-0. OCLC 315917260.
• —— (1994). Das Schicksal der Phantasie : Studien zur deutschen Literatur [Fantasy's Fate. Studies about German Literature] (in German). München: C. Hanser. ISBN 3-446-17689-6. OCLC 30461651.
• —— (1997). Verkommene Söhne, missratene Töchter : Familiendesaster in der Literatur [Deteriorated Sons, Ill-bred Daughters. Family Disasters in Literature] (in German). München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-423-30647-5. OCLC 40331948.
• —— (2001). Die verdächtige Pracht: Über Dichter und Gedichte [The suspicious Magnificence. About Poetry and Poems] (in German). München: dtv Verlagsgesellschaft. ISBN 978-3-423-30826-7. OCLC 76339467.
• —— (2001). Die tintenblauen Eidgenossen : über die literarische und politische Schweiz [The Ink-blue Swiss. About Swiss Literature and Poilics] (in German). München: Hanser. ISBN 3-446-20096-7. OCLC 48027990.
• —— (2003). Öffentliche Verehrung der Luftgeister : Reden zur Literatur [Public Worship and Air Ghosts] (in German). München: Hanser. ISBN 3-446-20379-6. OCLC 53057802.
• —— (2006). Die Intrige : Theorie und Praxis der Hinterlist [The Intrigue. Theories and Practice of Trickery] (in German). München: C. Hanser. ISBN 3-446-20731-7. OCLC 63514256.
• —— (2007). Das Wilde und die Ordnung : zur deutschen Literatur [The Wild and the Ordered. About German Literature] (in German). München: Hanser. ISBN 978-3-446-20840-7. OCLC 82149049. The Wild and the Ordered. About German Literature
• —— (2007). Der Entflammte : über Elias Canetti [The Inflamed. About Elias Canetti] (in German). [Zürich]: Nagel & Kimche. ISBN 978-3-312-00391-4. OCLC 82149035.
• —— (2012). Das Kalb vor der Gotthardpost : zur Literatur und Politik der Schweiz [The calf in front of the Gotthard post. About Swiss literature and politics] (in German). München: Carl Hanser Verlag. ISBN 978-3-446-23880-0. OCLC 775411398. Winner of the 2012 Swiss Book Prize.
• —— (3 October 2024). Recht, Gerechtigkeit und Sympathie (in German). Baden-Baden: BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-03751-569-3.
• —— (30 January 2017). Sieben Küsse (in German). München: Carl Hanser Verlag. ISBN 978-3-446-25462-6. OCLC 973223487. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
• —— (17 March 2017). Was ist ein Gedicht? (in German). Stuttgart: Reclam. ISBN 978-3-15-019444-7.
• —— (2017). Don Quijote reitet über alle Grenzen (in German). Basel: Schwabe Verl. ISBN 978-3-7965-3737-0.
• —— (20 February 2023). Übeltäter, trockne Schleicher, Lichtgestalten (in German). München: Hanser. ISBN 978-3-446-27616-1.

• Matt, Peter von (1965). Der Grundriss von Grillparzers Bühnenkunst [The outline of Grillparzer's Pear Art] (dissertation) (in German). Zürich: Atlantis-Verlag. OCLC 1283696.
• —— (1971). Die Augen der Automaten; E.T.A. Hoffmanns Imaginationslehre als Prinzip seiner Erzählkunst [The Eye of the Machines. E. T. A. Hoffmann's Imagination Teaching as a Principle of his Narrative Art] (habilitation) (in German). Tübingen: M. Niemeyer. ISBN 3-484-18018-8. OCLC 324885.