Wiener Gruppe#

Wiener Gruppe, circle of Austrian experimental writers emerging from the Art-Club founded in 1946. Members included F. Achleitner, H. C. Artmann (until 1958), K. Bayer, G. Ruehm and Oswald Wiener (from 1954). The common aim of the group, which began to form around 1951/52 and existed until 1964 (death of K. Bayer), was the search for progressive and avant-garde forms of writing and the rejection of conventional literature. Literary expressionism, surrealism and dadaism were the connecting links, the language theory of L. Wittgenstein and F. Mauthner as well as the philosophy of Max Stirner provided a theoretical basis. The material "language" was critically examined in teamwork projects ("poetical parlour games"); text montages, concrete, acoustic and visual poetry, chansons and sketches were presented in lectures and happenings ("literary cabarets"). Dialect was re-discovered for modern poetry (H. C. Artmann, "med ana schwoazzn dintn", 1958). The artistically consistent and uncompromising work of the authors, their sometimes provocative and grotesquely macabre texts led to hostility and isolation. Many manuscripts remained unprinted and some were even lost. The Wiener Gruppe, which also influenced writers such as E. Jandl and F. Mayroecker, played an important role in the establishment of avant-garde literature in the entire German-speaking area Concrete Poetry.

Literature#