One of the achievements of the Stifterhaus are those portrait issues in the literary magazine “Die Rampe”, which are dedicated to authors who have been awarded the Upper Austrian Culture Prize. The Rampe booklet 3/21 illuminates the life and work of Ludwig Laher, whereby “booklet” is a misleading term. It is more like a book of almost 200 pages. The heart of the publication is a conversation between the editor, Klaus Zeyringer, and the author. There are detailed insights into the beginnings, challenges, hours of happiness, but also disillusionments that give shape to a life determined by writing.
Ludwig Laher was born in Linz in 1955 and even as a child had a pronounced inclination for literature. In the seventies he studied German, English and classical philology at the University of Salzburg, where he found the creative field in which Karl-Markus Gauß, Erich Hackl and Margit Schreiner also embarked on their literary careers.
Not a straight path
Laher’s path to writing as a profession was not entirely straightforward. His main professional activity was high school for almost twenty years, and he had a family, but this did not prevent the disciplined intellectual worker from writing. Laher’s long list of publications is impressive. In conversation with Zeyringer, he provides interpretations of his own works. In sum, Ludwig Lahers work can be classified as “committed literature”. His intentions often go beyond the literary field. Some topics concern him again and again, especially National Socialism (“Bitter”, “Schauplatzwunden”). Behind his three novels “And taking what comes”, “Einleben”, “Verfahren” stands for the commitment to socially disadvantaged women, in others he reminds of unjustly forgotten artists. The semi-documentary narrative form is particularly suitable for Ludwig Laher’s critical-realistic writing, but what is most characteristic of him is the variety of forms, from novels to essays and glosses to radio plays and scripts. (chess)
Literature tip: The ramp 3/21. Portrait of Ludwig Laher. Edited by Klaus Zeyringer, 14.90 euros
Source: Nachrichten
