Peter von Matt


Peter von Matt was a Swiss philologist, specialist in German studies, and author. He was an authority in literary education.

Life and career

Born in Lucerne on 20 May 1937, Peter von Matt grew up in Stans in the canton of Nidwalden. He studied art history as well as German and English studies in Zurich and received a doctorate with Emil Staiger on Franz Grillparzer. In 1970, he received his post doctorate lecturing qualifications with a work on E. T. A. Hoffmann.
From 1976 to 2002, von Matt taught at the University of Zurich as a Professor of Newer German Literature. He was a guest professor at Stanford University in 1980 and a Fellow of the Institute for [Advanced Study, Berlin] in 1992/93. Von Matt was a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, the Berlin-Brandenburg [Academy of Sciences and Humanities], the Academia Europaea, the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Sächsische Akademie der Künste. He wrote regular contributions for the Frankfurter Anthologie. He regularly appeared on Marcel Reich-Ranicki's literary talk show Literarisches Quartett on German public television. Reich-Ranicki once called von Matt the "best writer of German-speaking Switzerland". Von Matt was a friend of Max Frisch. In his essays, von Matt also wrote on social and political issues, and explored the European identity and the Swiss soul. 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". In his book Liebesverrat : die Treulosen in der Literatur, he guided entertainingly through love dramas in world literature.
He was married to literary critic Beatrice von Matt-Albrecht and lived with her in Dübendorf near Zurich.
Von Matt died in Zurich on 21 April 2025, at the age of 87.

Works

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