!!!Bachmann, Ingeborg Pseudonym Ruth Keller

b. Klagenfurt (Carinthia), June 25, 1926, 
d. Rome (Italy), Oct. 17, 1973 (following a fire), poet, writer of 
narratives and radio plays. Studied philosophy, psychology and German 
at the University of Vienna; doctorate in philosophy 1950 (thesis on 
"The Critical Reception of Heidegger´s Existential Philosophy"). 
B. first made her name as a poet in 1952 at a literary reading of the 
"Gruppe 47". After 1953 she lived in Zurich and Rome, where she 
settled in 1965. She is particularly renowned for her poetry; in the 
collection "The Respite" ("Die gestundete Zeit", 1953) she criticises 
post-war society´s efforts to recall the old order and in the 
"Invocation of the Great Bear" ("Anrufung des grossen Baeren", 1956) 
her themes are taken from mythology, revolving around the predicament 
and the utopia of human existence. In the "Frankfurt Lectures" on 
poetics, which she held as a visiting lecturer in 1959/60, she 
reflects on questions concerning the "writing self", the identity of a 
writer and considers the possibilities of literature as a means of 
changing the world. In 1961 she published her story collection "The 
Thirtieth Year" ("Das dreissigste Jahr"), which deals with different 
types of human relationships and coping with the aftermath of fascism. 
In 1965 she embarked on her largest project, the "Cycle of Ways of 
Dying" ("Todesarten-Zyklus"), where she shows how women´s 
suffering at the hands of men leads them to seek refuge in isolation 
and inner reclusion; only the novel "Malina" (1971) was completed, 
however: "Franza´s Case" ("Der Fall Franza") and "Requiem for 
Fanny Goldmann" ("Requiem fuer Fanny Goldmann") were left unfinished 
(published in 1979). Students of women´s studies often claim 
that her late work represents the "paradigm of female writing". 
Awarded the Georg Buechner Prize in 1964, the Grand Austrian State 
Prize in 1968, and the Anton Wildgans Prize in 1972.

!Further works
Ein Ort fuer Zufaelle, 1965; Simultan, 1972 
(narratives); Gier, 1982 (narrative, posthumous in: Der dunkle 
Schatten, dem ich schon seit Anfang folge. I. B. - Vorschlaege zu 
einer neuen Lektuere des Werks, ed. by H. Hoeller); Letzte, 
unveroeffentlichte Gedichte, Entwuerfe und Fassungen, ed. by H. 
Hoeller, 1998. - Radio plays: Ein Geschaeft mit Traeumen, 1952; Die 
Zikaden, 1955;. Der gute Gott von Manhattan, 1958. - Editions: Werke, 
ed. by C. Koschel et al., 4 vols., 1978; Saemtliche Erzaehlungen, 
1980; "Todesarten"-Projekt, ed. by M. Albrecht, 4 vols., 1995; 
Roemische Reportagen, ed. by J.-D. Kogel, 1998.

!Literature
H. Hoeller, I. B. - Das Werk, 1987; A. Stoll, 
I. B. "Malina", 1992; E. Demski, I. B., %%sup 5/%1995; K. 
Bartsch, I. B., %%sup 2/%1997; S. Weigel, I. B., 1999.



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