Austrian literature over the centuries has been dominated by men – with few notable exceptions such as Hrosvit v. Gandersheim, Marie Frf. v. Ebner-Eschenbach, Paula v. Preradovic, Bertha v. Suttner. After WW II, there is an increase of female women writers not only in numbers, but in importance. Since 1945, female authors in Austria have successfully tried to break free from the limitations women were subject to in earlier times, so successful in fact that they have become leading figures in the shaping and defining of Austrian literature as a whole.
This course tries to explain the phenomenon of women in Austrian literature since 1945. It comprises the full scope of female thought from the ever present ”Vergangenheitsbewältigung” to radical feminist views on society and social interaction in the seventies and eighties, and on to recent novels concerning new problems of the female in a changing society, such as raising children as single mothers, or dealing with migration in Europe. It will also deal with the problem of changing one’s sex, and check whether a male perspective on female life bears validity.
Learning outcomes:
Understanding of contemporary Austrian society and its issues, and understanding of the history of women and the development of female thought from the days of “KKK” (Kinder, Küche, Kirche) to the present.
Method of presentation:
Lectures; group discussions. Several shorter texts will be read by the entire class and provide the basic structure and chronological frame to the course, one movie adaptations of a novel by Elfriede Jelinek will be shown and discussed. In addition, each student will be asked to read a novel and present it to the class. Depending on the choices students make for the presentation, the emphasis of the course can vary.
Required work and form of assessment:
Regular physical and intellectual attendance, and participation in discussions (20%); one book presentation (see the “optional reading”-list for suggested books; 20%); term paper (20%); take-home midterm test (20%); comprehensive oral final test (20%).
content:
The session-by-session syllabus depends largely on the students’ choice of books for their reports. It is usually handed out in the second week of the semester.
Required readings:
Fiction:
Ilse AICHINGER: Mirror Story (short story, 1954).
Rose AUSLÄNDER: The Curse II (short story, 1974)
Ingeborg BACHMANN: Youth in an Austrian Town (short story, 1961); The Thirtieth Year (short story, 1961); Among Murderers and Madmen (short story, 1961) A Step Towards Gomorrha (short story, 1961); selected poetry and essays.
Jeannie EBNER: Frozen Roses (short story, 1979) Lilian FASCHINGER: As A Stranger (short story, 1993)
Peter HANDKE: A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (story, 1971, exc)
Marlen HAUSHOFER: We are killing Stella (short story, 1958)
Elfriede JELINEK: The piano teacher (novel, 1983)
Friederike MAYRÖCKER: selected poetry
Sabine SCHOLL: Sex - The Other Homeland (short story, 1991)
Margit SCHREINER: The Kargeralm Shepherd (short story, 1990)
Non-Fiction:
Chris WEEDON: Reading Women’s Writing. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Recommended readings:
Fiction: (A selection for book reports, more available)
Ilse AICHINGER: Herod’s Children (1948)
Ingeborg BACHMANN: Malina (1971, F); The Franza Case (1979)
Barbara FRISCHMUTH: The Shadow Disappears in the Sun (1973)
Marianne GRUBER: Sphere of Glass (1981); Death of the Plover (1991)
Peter HANDKE: The Left-Handed Woman (1976)
Marlen HAUSHOFER: The Wall (1963)
Elfriede JELINEK: Women as Lovers (1975); Lust (1989), Greed (2000)
Ruth KLÜGER: still alive. coming of age… (weiter leben.) (autobiography, 1992)
Friederike MAYRÖCKER: Night Train (1984)
Anna MITGUTSCH: Three Daughters (1985); Jakob (1989); In Foreign Cities (1992); House of Childhood (2000)
Felix MITTERER: The Wild Woman (play, 1991)
Elisabeth REICHART: February Shadows (1984)
Kathrin RÖGGLA: we never sleep (2004)
** Jutta / Julian SCHUTTING: Am Morgen vor der Reise (1978)
Brigitte SCHWAIGER: Why is There Salt in the Sea? (1974, F)
** Hilde SPIEL: Lisas Zimmer (1965)
Marlene STREERUWITZ: Seductions (1996)
Non-Fiction
Elizabeth BOA: Reading Ingeborg Bachmann. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in
German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Rhonda DUFFAUT: Ingeborg Bachmann’s Alternate ”States”: Re-thinking Nationhood in ‘Malina’. In: MAL 29/3-4, 1996.
Nancy C. ERICKSON: Writing and Remembering – Acts of Resistance in Ingeborg Bachmann’s ‘Malina’ and ‘Der Fall Franza’, and Elfriede Jelinek’s ‘Lust’ and and ‘Die Klavierspielerin’: Case Studies in Hysteria. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Allyson FIDDLER: Post-war Austrian Women Writers. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Allyson FIDDLER: Reading Elfriede Jelinek. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Kathleen L. KOMAR: ”Es war Mord”. The murder of Ingeborg Bachmann at the hands of an Alter Ego. In: MAL 27/2, 1994, 91-112.
** Ruth KLÜGER: Frauen lesen anders. In: Dies.: Frauen lesen anders. München: dtv 1996.
Dagmar C. G. LORENZ: Austrian Authors and the Dilemma of National Identity at the End of the 20th Century. In: MAL 29/3-4, 1996.
Margaret MCCARTHY: Murder and Self-Resuscitation in Ingeborg Bachmann’s ‘Malina’. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Edward K. MCDONALD: Out from the Shadows! – Ilse Aichinger’s Poetic Dreams of the Unfettered Life. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Richie ROBERTSON et al (ed): Gender and Politics in Austrian Fiction. Edinburgh 1996.
Gerd K. SCHNEIDER: Anna Mitgutsch’s Portrayal of Women: Not Only a Feminist Issue. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Other Resources:
Film:
Michael HANEKE: The Piano teacher (2001; L: Elfriede Jelinek)
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Mag. phil. Günter Haika (Germanistik, University of Vienna) has been teaching at IES since 1978. He is currently on the Faculty of Wake Forest University, Vienna Study Center, which he manages and where he teaches German, Literature, and Photography. Research areas focus on contemporary Austrian Literature and Film, and on Wilhelm Friedrich Meyern. Among his more recent publications: “brutal real. Der neue Realismus in der Österreichischen Literatur der Gegenwart” (2009), “Madness on a Grand Scale: Portrayal of Terrorism in Austrian Literature after 9/11” (2008) and ““there is no catharsis.” Ein fiktiver Dialog über einige Vorbilder der gegenwärtigen Österreichischen Literatur” (2008). Mag. Haika has also worked as a translator, recently for: Zenon Neumark: “Im Freien verborgen. Ein jüdischer Flüchtling überlebt die Nazizeit in Warschau und Wien” (2009).
The Woman as Writer and Perspective in Austrian Literature after 1945
Austrian literature over the centuries has been dominated by men – with few notable exceptions such as Hrosvit v. Gandersheim, Marie Frf. v. Ebner-Eschenbach, Paula v. Preradovic, Bertha v. Suttner. After WW II, there is an increase of female women writers not only in numbers, but in importance. Since 1945, female authors in Austria have successfully tried to break free from the limitations women were subject to in earlier times, so successful in fact that they have become leading figures in the shaping and defining of Austrian literature as a whole.
This course tries to explain the phenomenon of women in Austrian literature since 1945. It comprises the full scope of female thought from the ever present ”Vergangenheitsbewältigung” to radical feminist views on society and social interaction in the seventies and eighties, and on to recent novels concerning new problems of the female in a changing society, such as raising children as single mothers, or dealing with migration in Europe. It will also deal with the problem of changing one’s sex, and check whether a male perspective on female life bears validity.
Understanding of contemporary Austrian society and its issues, and understanding of the history of women and the development of female thought from the days of “KKK” (Kinder, Küche, Kirche) to the present.
Lectures; group discussions. Several shorter texts will be read by the entire class and provide the basic structure and chronological frame to the course, one movie adaptations of a novel by Elfriede Jelinek will be shown and discussed. In addition, each student will be asked to read a novel and present it to the class. Depending on the choices students make for the presentation, the emphasis of the course can vary.
Regular physical and intellectual attendance, and participation in discussions (20%); one book presentation (see the “optional reading”-list for suggested books; 20%); term paper (20%); take-home midterm test (20%); comprehensive oral final test (20%).
The session-by-session syllabus depends largely on the students’ choice of books for their reports. It is usually handed out in the second week of the semester.
Fiction:
Ilse AICHINGER: Mirror Story (short story, 1954).
Rose AUSLÄNDER: The Curse II (short story, 1974)
Ingeborg BACHMANN: Youth in an Austrian Town (short story, 1961); The Thirtieth Year (short story, 1961); Among Murderers and Madmen (short story, 1961) A Step Towards Gomorrha (short story, 1961); selected poetry and essays.
Jeannie EBNER: Frozen Roses (short story, 1979) Lilian FASCHINGER: As A Stranger (short story, 1993)
Peter HANDKE: A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (story, 1971, exc)
Marlen HAUSHOFER: We are killing Stella (short story, 1958)
Elfriede JELINEK: The piano teacher (novel, 1983)
Friederike MAYRÖCKER: selected poetry
Sabine SCHOLL: Sex - The Other Homeland (short story, 1991)
Margit SCHREINER: The Kargeralm Shepherd (short story, 1990)
Jutta / Julian SCHUTTING: Butterflies (short story, 1989)
Non-Fiction:
Chris WEEDON: Reading Women’s Writing. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Fiction: (A selection for book reports, more available)
Ilse AICHINGER: Herod’s Children (1948)
Ingeborg BACHMANN: Malina (1971, F); The Franza Case (1979)
Barbara FRISCHMUTH: The Shadow Disappears in the Sun (1973)
Marianne GRUBER: Sphere of Glass (1981); Death of the Plover (1991)
Peter HANDKE: The Left-Handed Woman (1976)
Marlen HAUSHOFER: The Wall (1963)
Elfriede JELINEK: Women as Lovers (1975); Lust (1989), Greed (2000)
Ruth KLÜGER: still alive. coming of age… (weiter leben.) (autobiography, 1992)
Friederike MAYRÖCKER: Night Train (1984)
Anna MITGUTSCH: Three Daughters (1985); Jakob (1989); In Foreign Cities (1992); House of Childhood (2000)
Felix MITTERER: The Wild Woman (play, 1991)
Elisabeth REICHART: February Shadows (1984)
Kathrin RÖGGLA: we never sleep (2004)
** Jutta / Julian SCHUTTING: Am Morgen vor der Reise (1978)
Brigitte SCHWAIGER: Why is There Salt in the Sea? (1974, F)
** Hilde SPIEL: Lisas Zimmer (1965)
Marlene STREERUWITZ: Seductions (1996)
Non-Fiction
Elizabeth BOA: Reading Ingeborg Bachmann. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in
German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Rhonda DUFFAUT: Ingeborg Bachmann’s Alternate ”States”: Re-thinking Nationhood in ‘Malina’. In: MAL 29/3-4, 1996.
Nancy C. ERICKSON: Writing and Remembering – Acts of Resistance in Ingeborg Bachmann’s ‘Malina’ and ‘Der Fall Franza’, and Elfriede Jelinek’s ‘Lust’ and and ‘Die Klavierspielerin’: Case Studies in Hysteria. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Allyson FIDDLER: Post-war Austrian Women Writers. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Allyson FIDDLER: Reading Elfriede Jelinek. – In: Chris Weedon (ed): Postwar Women’s Writing in German. Feminist Critical Approaches. Providence and Oxford 1997.
Kathleen L. KOMAR: ”Es war Mord”. The murder of Ingeborg Bachmann at the hands of an Alter Ego. In: MAL 27/2, 1994, 91-112.
** Ruth KLÜGER: Frauen lesen anders. In: Dies.: Frauen lesen anders. München: dtv 1996.
Dagmar C. G. LORENZ: Austrian Authors and the Dilemma of National Identity at the End of the 20th Century. In: MAL 29/3-4, 1996.
Margaret MCCARTHY: Murder and Self-Resuscitation in Ingeborg Bachmann’s ‘Malina’. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Edward K. MCDONALD: Out from the Shadows! – Ilse Aichinger’s Poetic Dreams of the Unfettered Life. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Richie ROBERTSON et al (ed): Gender and Politics in Austrian Fiction. Edinburgh 1996.
Gerd K. SCHNEIDER: Anna Mitgutsch’s Portrayal of Women: Not Only a Feminist Issue. – In: Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (ed): Out from the Shadows. essays on contemporary austrian women. Writers and filmmakers. Riverside 1997.
Film:
Michael HANEKE: The Piano teacher (2001; L: Elfriede Jelinek)
Mag. phil. Günter Haika (Germanistik, University of Vienna) has been teaching at IES since 1978. He is currently on the Faculty of Wake Forest University, Vienna Study Center, which he manages and where he teaches German, Literature, and Photography. Research areas focus on contemporary Austrian Literature and Film, and on Wilhelm Friedrich Meyern. Among his more recent publications: “brutal real. Der neue Realismus in der Österreichischen Literatur der Gegenwart” (2009), “Madness on a Grand Scale: Portrayal of Terrorism in Austrian Literature after 9/11” (2008) and ““there is no catharsis.” Ein fiktiver Dialog über einige Vorbilder der gegenwärtigen Österreichischen Literatur” (2008). Mag. Haika has also worked as a translator, recently for: Zenon Neumark: “Im Freien verborgen. Ein jüdischer Flüchtling überlebt die Nazizeit in Warschau und Wien” (2009).