Beyond Vienna: Contemporary Literature from the Austrian Provinces, Translated by Todd C. Hanlin

For centuries, Vienna had been the imperial residence and capital of the great multi-lingual, multi-national Habsburg Empire, and thus a magnet for the accumulation of power, prestige, wealth, and beauty. However, it is self-evident that not everyone could or should reside in the capital, that many talented authors, whether by choice or by chance, lived outside that glamorous city, in Kafka’s words, far from “the Imperial sun.”

At the outset of the twenty-first century, with technological advancements in transportation and communication – with international publishing houses and chain bookstores, with e-mail and the Internet, for example – is there any social, political, economic, or professional advantage to residing in Vienna, or has it become irrelevant today where artists live? Are their life experiences notably different, whether they reside in the capitol or in any other city, large or small? Are authors’ choices of language or themes influenced by their provincial backgrounds? Thus the idea of “Beyond Vienna” – a compelling and timely topic.

This volume will attempt to address these questions, while serving as an introduction to nine authors – poets, novelists, and dramatists – and their relationships to the capital: Xaver Bayer, Alois Brandstetter, Gloria Kaiser, Christine Lavant, Anna Mitgutsch, Felix Mitterer, Elisabeth Reichart, Vladimir Vertlib, and Friedrich Ch. Zauner. The contributors are respected scholars who were personally invited to join this project and who ultimately determined which authors would be included.

Todd C. Hanlin, professor emeritus of German at the University of Arkansas, has published a monograph on Franz Kafka and edited Charles Sealsfield’s Austria As It Is. He has written on Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler, Peter Turrini, Peter Henisch, Paulus Hochgatterer; for Ariadne Press he has translated novels by Anton Fuchs, Gustav Ernst, Gerald Szyszkowitz, Georg Potyka, and Peter Steiner, plays by Szyszkowitz, Felix Mitterer, and Fritz Hochwälder, as well as a volume on The Best of Austrian Science Fiction.
CONTENTS:
Introduction by Todd C. Hanlin
FRIEDRICH CH. ZAUNER by Jörg Thunecke
ALOIS BRANDSTETTER by Paul F. Dvorak
ANNA MITGUTSCH by Kathleen Condray
CHRISTINE LAVANT by Geoffrey C. Howes
FELIX MITTERER by Gerlinde Ulm Sanford
GLORIA KAISER by Donald G. Daviau
ELISABETH REICHART by Felix W. Tweraser
VLADIMIR VERTLIB by Dagmar C. G. Lorenz
XAVER BAYER by Renate Posthofen and Jörg Thunecke