Ingeborg Bachmann's Literary World



Ingeborg Bachmann (1926 -1973) has become a myth in German post-war literature. Her divaesque public appearances and her early fame, her love affairs with authors like Paul Celan and Max Frisch, and her mysterious, tragic death have all contributed to this glamorous image. In this seminar, we will examine her multi-faceted work, her poems as well as her radioplays, her stories as well as her novel Malina (and its cinematic adaptation), and we will include in our discussions selected speeches and essays. The focus of our course work will be on in-depth reading, precise analysis, and interpretation. Bachmann’s treatment of versification and narrative theory, her work’s literary historical context, and the problem of gender, so central to her thinking, will inform our readings. Letters and filmic material will shed further light on her biography and her relationship to other authors.

Required texts: Ingeborg Bachmann, Sämtliche Erzählungen (Piper); Bachmann, Malina (Suhrkamp); Bachmann, Der gute Gott von Manhattan (Piper); Hans Höller, Ingeborg Bachmann (Rowohlt).