Federspiel, J.F. 1931-2007 (Jürg F. Federspiel)
Federspiel, J.F. 1931-2007 (Jürg F. Federspiel)
OBITUARY NOTICE—
See index for CA sketch: Born June 28, 1931, in Kempthal near Winterthur, Switzerland; died February 25, 2007. Author. Federspiel was best known in the United States for his novel The Ballad of Typhoid Mary. After attending the Rudolf Steiner School in Basel, Switzerland, he worked as a journalist, movie critic, and author. Federspiel penned short stories, essays, poetry, plays, and novels, and he was known for his penchant for the macabre, the humorous, and the ironic. His first novel to be available in English, Die Ballade von der Typhoid Mary (1982), translated the following year, is about a historical woman who refused to admit responsibility for spreading the terrible disease to dozens of people. Other titles available in English include Federspiel's An Earthquake in My Family: Stories (1986) and Laura's Skin (1991). Many of his writings were critically acclaimed, and he was honored with such awards as the Schiller Prize and Georg Mackensen Prize. In his last years, Federspiel suffered from Parkinson's disease and diabetes. He wandered away from his home about a month before his body was discovered near the German-French border.
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
New York Times, February 28, 2007, p. C17.