Gert Friedrich Jonke (8 February 1946  – 4 January 2009) was an Austrian poet, playwright and novelist.

Life
Jonke was born and educated in Klagenfurt, Austria. He attended the Gymnasium (university preparatory school) and the Conservatory. After he served his mandatory military service, he continued his studies at the College of Music and Representative Art in Vienna in the Film and Television Department. He did not, however, complete his studies there, nor his studies of History, Philosophy, Music Theory, or German Studies at the University of Vienna which followed.

He became friends with the writers' circle of Graz, a centre of the Austrian literary avant garde of the time. In 1969 he published his first novel, Geometrischer Heimatroman (Geometric Regional Novel), which met with some success. The book received a positive review by Peter Handke in Der Spiegel.

In 1971 he received a scholarship to study in West Berlin, where he stayed for five years. He then lived for a year in London, followed by extensive travels throughout the Middle East and South America. In 1977, he moved with his partner to Argentina, where he met Borges. He returned to Austria in the 1980s.

Jonke died of cancer at the age of 62 on 4 January 2009, in Vienna. He was given a grave of honor () in the Zentralfriedhof, the central cemetery in Vienna.

Works

Prose 

 Geometrischer Heimatroman (1969). Geometric Regional Novel, trans. Johannes W. Vazulik (Dalkey Archive, 1994)
 Beginn einer Verzweiflung: Epiloge (1970, short stories). The Beginnings of a Despair: Epilogues
 Musikgeschichte (1970, short stories). Music History
 Glashausbesichtigung (1970). A Tour of Glass Houses
 Die Vermehrung der Leuchttürme (1971). The Multiplication of the Lighthouses
 Schule der Geläufigkeit: Erzählungen (1977). Homage to Czerny: Studies in Virtuoso Technique, trans. Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive, 2008)
 Der ferne Klang (1979). The Distant Sound, trans. Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive, 2010)
 Die erste Reise zum unerforschten Grund des stillen Horizonts (1980). Collection of revised versions of works written between 1965 and 1980: "Wiederholung des Festes"; Das System von Wien; Geometrischer Heimatroman; Glashausbesichtigung; Die Hinterhältigkeit der Windmaschinen; and Die Vermehrung der Leuchttürme
 Erwachen zum großen Schlafkrieg (1982). Awakening to the Great Sleep War, trans. Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive, 2012)
 Der Kopf des Georg Friedrich Händel (1988). The Head of George Frederick Handel, included in the English-language compilation Blinding Moment
 Stoffgewitter (1996). Thunderbolts of Cloth. Includes the novella Geblendeter Augenblick: Anton Weberns Tod (Blinding Moment) and the autobiographical essay "Individuum und Metamorphose".
 Himmelstraße – Erdbrustplatz oder Das System von Wien (1999). The System of Vienna: From Heaven Street to Earth Mound Square, trans. Vincent Kling (Dalkey Archive, 2009)
 Reworked stories from Musikgeschichte (1970), Beginn einer Verzweiflung (1970) and Das System von Wien

Plays and poems 
 Damals vor Graz, Forum Stadtpark Graz 1989
 Die Hinterhältigkeit der Windmaschinen: Tragodie in drei Akten (1971). The Deviousness of the Wind Machines
 Im Inland und im Ausland auch (1974). At Home as Well as Abroad: Poems, Radio Plays, Theatrical Plays
 Sanftwut oder Der Ohrenmaschinist: Eine Theatersonate (Gentle Rage, or The Ear Machinist), Styriarte Graz 1990
 First performance in Sign Language with the deaf actor Werner Mössler by ARBOS - Company for Music and Theatre Vienna 2006
 Opus 111: Ein Klavierstuck, Volkstheater Vienna 1993
 Gegenwart der Erinnerung (Memory at Present), Volkstheater Vienna 1995
 Es singen die Steine: ein Stück Naturtheater (The Stones Are Singing: A Piece of Nature Theater), Stadttheater Klagenfurt 1998
 Insektarium, Volkstheater Vienna 1999, published 2001
 Die Vögel, UA Volkstheater Wien 2002
 Chorphantasie: Konzert fur Dirigent auf der Suche nach dem Orchester, Schauspielhaus Graz, 2003
 Redner rund um die Uhr: Eine Sprechsonate (Orator Around the Clock: A Spoken Sonata), Semper-Depot Vienna, 2004
 Seltsame Sache: Ein Melodram für Lorenzo da Ponte, Ruhrtriennale, 2005
 Die versunkene Kathedrale, Burgtheater Vienna 2005
 Freier Fall, UA Akademietheater Vienna 2008 
 Bursting Suddenly, aktionstheater ensemble at the Festspielhaus Bregenz and Semper Depot Vienna 2008
 Alle Stücke (2008)
 Alle Gedichte (2010)

Other works 

 Schwarzbuch (1984). Photos by Sepp Schmölzer, text by Jonke.
 Das Verhalten auf sinkenden Schiffen (1997). Text of a speech by Ilse Aichinger with response from Jonke.
 Klagenfurt: Ansichten in klassischen Schwarzweiß-Fotografien (2004). Photos by Siegfried Gutzelnig, text by Jonke.

Compilations in English 
 Blinding Moment: Four Pieces About Composers, trans. Vincent Kling (Ariadne Press, 2009). Includes:
 The Head of George Frederick Handel
 "Catalogue d'oiseaux"
 Gentle Rage, or The Ear Machinist
 Blinding Moment

Awards and honors 
 1977 Ingeborg Bachmann Prize
 1980 Literature Prize of the University City of Marburg
 1984 Manuscripts prize of Styria
 1987 Austrian Prize for Literature
 1988 Prize of the Frankfurt Authors Foundation
 1990–1993 Robert Musil scholarship
 1991 International Bodensee-Culture Prize
 1993 Merit Award of the City of Vienna
 1994 Anton Wildgans Prize
 1997 Erich Fried Prize
 1997 Franz Kafka Literature Prize of the city of Klosterneuburg
 1998 Berlin Literature Prize
 2001 Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature
 2003 Nestroy Theatre Prize Best Author for Chorphantasie
 2005 Kleist Prize
 2006 Arthur Schnitzler Prize
 2006 Nestroy Theatre Prize Best Author for Die versunkene Kathedrale (The Sunken Cathedral)
 2008 Nestroy Theatre Prize Best Author for Free Fall

References

1946 births
2009 deaths
Austrian male dramatists and playwrights
Writers from Klagenfurt
Anton Wildgans Prize winners
Kleist Prize winners
Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winners
Recipients of the Grand Austrian State Prize
20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Austrian male writers