He studied in Vienna, Austria, and has lived in Barcelona since 1980, where he devotes himself to literary translation and writing.
His work as a translator is chiefly focused on works by Austrian and Hungarian authors such as Stefan Zweig, Karl Kraus, Arthur Schnitzler, Imre Kertész and László Krasznahorkai. He has also translated classics such as Goethe, Franz Kafka and Rainer Maria Rilke. In addition, he is an essayist and fiction writer: Guerra y lenguaje (2008), Karl Kraus en los últimos días de la humanidad (2015), El vuelo de Europa (2016), Las leyes de la extranjería (2019). He has been granted the Ángel Crespo Translation Award (2004), Spanish Ministry of Culture National Translation Award (2010), Austrian State Prize for Literary Translation (2010), Hungary ‘Balassi’ Prize for Literary Translation (2017), and Straelen Translation Award (2022). He is a member of the German Language and Literature Academy.
