Ludwig Hohl
Ludwig Hohl was a Swiss writer born in 1904 in Netstal, Switzerland. He grew up in a Protestant family and faced challenges in his early education, eventually moving to Paris in 1924, where he documented his bohemian lifestyle, though his work remained unpublished until 2004. Hohl's literary journey continued in Holland, where he produced significant works such as "Nuancen und Details," a two-volume collection reflecting on various themes including life, death, and art. His most notable piece, "Die Notizen: Oder, Von der unvoreiligen Versöhnung," emerged during a creative peak in the 1930s, structured as a series of prose fragments that delve into philosophical inquiries. Hohl's personal life was complex, marked by multiple marriages, including one with Henriette von Mayenburg, and he became a father in his third marriage. He returned to Switzerland in 1937, and his works continued to garner attention, with posthumous publications and accolades acknowledging his contributions to literature. Hohl’s writing is characterized by introspective themes and a unique narrative style, reflecting his profound engagement with the human condition.
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Ludwig Hohl
Writer
- Born: April 9, 1904
- Birthplace: Netstal, Switzerland
- Died: November 3, 1980
- Place of death: Geneva, Switzerland
Biography
Ludwig Hohl was born in 1904 in Netstal, Switzerland, to Arnold Hohl, a Protestant pastor, and Magda Zweifel Hohl. He attended high school in Frauenfeld but failed to complete his course work. In 1924, he went to Paris, where he lived for seven years. While there, he wrote Aus der Tiefsee: Paris, 1926 about his bohemian experiences in Paris, although the book was not published until 2004.
He lived in Vienna from 1930 through 1931, and he then moved to Holland, where he lived for six years, often poor and alone. In Holland, he wrote his first significant work, the two-volume Nunacen und Details (1939-1942). The work is a collection of comments and observations about a wide range of topics, including life, death, art, and work. It also includes some short fiction and memoirs.
While in Holland, Hohl married Henriette von Mayenburg, better known as Lotte, in 1935. He seems to have been unable to sustain marriage, as he had no less than five wives. He divorced Lotte in 1945. He had a daughter with his third wife, Heidy Antoine, whom he married in 1948, and he married his fifth wife, Madeleine-Jeanne de Weiss, two months before his death.
Hohl began writing his masterpiece in Holland in 1934, a period of intense creativity. Die Notizen: Oder, Von der unvoreiligen Versöhnung is divided into twelve parts, each one dealing with a philosophical or artistic theme and, like Nuancen und Details, is a loosely woven series of prose fragments or aphorisms. For instance, Part I consists of fifty-one items around the theme of work, while Part II has no less than 333 items concerning the limitations of being human. The work was published in two volumes in 1944 and 1954, although his Swiss publishers were reluctant to publish the second volume.
In 1937, Hohl returned to Switzerland, where he published a collection of his short stories under the title Nächtlicher Weg (1943). The best-known story is the title one about the protagonist’s failure to help a man on a freezing night, only to learn of his death the next morning. In 1975, Hohl published Bergfahrt, an allegorical story of two men’s deaths while climbing a mountain.
Six years after his death in 1980, his lengthy treatise, Von den hereinbrechenden Rändern: Nachnotizen (1986), was published; Hohl had worked on this treatise for many years. Also posthumously published was Alles ist Werk (2004), which consists of extracts from Von den hereinbrechenden Rändern and several articles on his relationships with other Swiss writers. Hohl received a number of awards, including the Schiller Foundation Award for 1970, the Robert Walser Centenary Prize in 1978, and the Petrarca Prize in 1980.