literature
“Night train to Lisbon” made him famous: Peter Bieri aka Pascal Mercier died
The Swiss writer Peter Bieri aka Pascal Mercier on the red carpet before the film premiere “Night Train to Lisbon”.
© Marcel Bieri/epa Keystone/dpa
He wrote his best-known novel “Night Train to Lisbon” under the pseudonym Pascal Mercier. The writer Peter Bieri has died at the age of 79.
The Swiss writer Peter Bieri, who became known under his alias Pascal Mercier, is dead. Hanser Verlag announced this on Tuesday. The 79-year-old is best known for his novel Night Train to Lisbon, which was published in 2004. According to a spokeswoman, he died in Berlin, where he last lived.
Pascal Mercier achieved worldwide success with “Night Train to Lisbon”. The novel about a classical language teacher who one day breaks out of his rut and embarks on an adventurous search for meaning has become one of the best-selling books by a Swiss author worldwide.
The book has been sold millions of times, the translation rights have been granted in more than 40 languages worldwide, as informed by Hanser Verlag. A film adaptation was released in cinemas in 2013.
Pascal Mercier was the pseudonym of Peter Bieri
Bieri, who was born in Bern, published five novels as Pascal Mercier. The last, “Weight of Words”, was released in 2020. His literary works were often intertwined with his philosophical work. He has written numerous philosophical books, most recently “A Way to Live: On the Diversity of Human Dignity” from 2013.
“We are losing a great thinker and novelist,” said publisher Jo Lendle. “Peter Bieri has shown in his own name and under his nom de plume all his life how thoughts and stories inspire each other: The philosopher learned from the narrator – and vice versa, his novels bring the great questions of humanity to life. His books remain. We are thank him for it.”
The editor Tobias Heyl shared: “Philosopher and novelist, a powerfully eloquent author who was at home in many languages: Peter Bieri took writing and reading seriously in a way that surprised some people. He remembered the special power of Believed in books. The fact that I was able to accompany him as an editor for almost 25 years and have many conversations with him now seems particularly lucky to me.”