and subsequent productions were put on in collaboration with director Patrice Chéreau. Koltès's work, based in real-life problems, expresses the tragedy of being alone and of death. His writing style accents the dramatic tension and the lyricism of his plays. Koltes also translated into French Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. Genet and the absurdists influenced Koltès's writing. Like other absurdist writers, he felt exiled – in his case, as a homosexual in a heterosexual world. In Africa, he saw native cultures being wiped out by European influences. This theme brought forth Black Battles with Dogs. After a visit to America he wrote Quay ouest (1985), about a brother and sister in a foreign culture. The psychopathic killer Roberto Succo provided the inspiration for his final play Roberto Zucco. It was first performed posthumously in Berlin in 1990, directed by Peter Stein. It has since been performed across Europe and the United States. Death Koltès died in a Paris hospital in 1989 due to complications from AIDS. Works Bitterness (Les Amertumes) (1970) La Marche (1970) Heritage (L'Héritage) (1972) Récits morts (1973) Sallinger (1977) The Night Just Before the Forests (La Nuit juste avant les forêts) (1977) Black Battles with Dogs (Combat de nègre et de chiens) (1979) Quay West (Quai Ouest) (1985) In the Solitude of Cotton Fields (Dans la solitude des champs de coton) (1985) Tabataba (1986) Return to the Desert (Retour au désert) (1988) Roberto Zucco (1988), based on the life of the criminal Roberto Succo References External links BernardMarieKoltes.com Critical bibliography on Koltès' works (Auteurs.contemporain.info) AIDS-related deaths in France Burials at Montmartre Cemetery 1948 births 1989 deaths 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights French male dramatists and playwrights French LGBT dramatists and playwrights French gay writers 20th-century French male writers 20th-century LGBT people