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Christine Lavant (born Christine Thonhauser, mar. Christine Habernig; 4 July 1915 – 7 June 1973) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n poet and novelist.
Life
Lavant was born in the hamlet of Großedling (today part of
Wolfsberg) in the
Lavant Valley,
Carinthia
Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...
, the ninth child of a poor miner's family. Later she adopted the name of the valley as her pseudonym.
The newborn had
scrofula of the breast, neck and face, and nearly went blind. From the age of three, the child at regular intervals contracted
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
and physicians treated her as nonviable; nevertheless she was enrolled in
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
(''
Volksschule
The German term ''Volksschule'' generally refers to compulsory education, denoting an educational institution every person (i.e. the people, ''Volk'') is required to attend.
In Germany and Switzerland it is equivalent to a combined primary (' ...
'') in 1921. During a hospitalisation in
Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
, the chief physician noted Lavant's literary interest and presented her an edition of
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
's works, which she carried on her walk home. In 1927 her health again declined and she was only able to finish primary school with continual interruptions two years later, after being exposed to a risky X-ray treatment. She had to abandon the subsequent attendance at the lower
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
(''
Hauptschule
A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
'') as the way was too long for the feeble child.
Lavant had to stay at her parents' home and occupied herself with painting, writing, reading, and needleworks. A protracted
middle ear infection left a single-sided hearing impairment. In the early 1930s, she came down with a
major depression
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...
, but also focused on painting and writing and offered a first novel to a
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
publishing house. The manuscript was finally rejected in 1932, whereafter Lavant completely destroyed her writing and in 1935 attended the Klagenfurt sanatorium. Her financial condition worsened after her parents had died in quick succession in 1937 and 1938. Supported by her knitting and subsidised by her siblings, she married the painter and former landowner Josef Habernig, about 35 years her senior.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Lavant again began to compose lyric poetry, which eventually gained some attention by the Austrian literary scene. A first volume was released by a
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
publisher who recommended her to prose, whereafter she came out with the novella ''Das Kind'' (''The Child'') in the same year. She became publicly known after an appearance at a 1950 reading in
Sankt Veit. Lavant relocated to her hometown Wolfsberg, where she lived in reclusion for the rest of her life. When in 1964 her husband died after a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
, she had a breakdown in health and again had to undergo hospital treatment. Lavant died, aged 57, in Wolfsberg.
Her poems have been described as "almost mystically religious" and "archaic". Rilke and Christianity
Post-war women's writing in German: feminist critical approaches by Chris Weedon, pg 245
/ref> are seen as influences on her work.
Awards
*1954 Georg Trakl Prize
*1964 Anton Wildgans Prize
The Anton Wildgans Prize of Austrian Industry is a literary award that was endowed in 1962 by the Federation of Austrian Industry. The prize is worth 15,000 Euro and is granted by an independent jury to a young or middle-aged writer of Austrian c ...
*1964 Georg Trakl Prize
*1970 Grand Austrian State Prize
The Grand Austrian State Prize () is a decoration given annually by Austria to an artist for exceptional work. The recipient must be an Austrian citizen with a permanent residence in Austria.
It was originally created in 1950 by then education mi ...
for literature
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavant, Christine
1915 births
1973 deaths
People from Wolfsberg
Austrian women writers
Anton Wildgans Prize winners
20th-century women writers
20th-century Austrian writers
German-language poets