Marlen Haushofer (born Marie Helene Frauendorfer; 11 April 1920 – 21 March 1970) was an Austrian author, most famous for her novel ''

The Wall ''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/ CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imp ...

'' (1963).

Biography

Marie Helene Frauendorfer was born in Frauenstein in Upper Austria. She attended Catholic boarding school in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, and went on to study German literature in Vienna and in Graz. After her school years she settled in Steyr. In 1941, she married Manfred Haushofer, a dentist, and had two sons, Christian and Manfred. They divorced in 1950, only to remarry each other in 1958.

Work

Earning literary awards as early as 1953, Haushofer went on to publish her first novel, ''A Handful of Life'' in 1955. In 1956, she won the Theodor Körner Prize for early contributions and projects involving art and culture. In 1958, her novella '' We Murder Stella'' was published. ''

'', considered her finest achievement, was completed in 1963. The novel was written out four times in longhand between 1960 and 1963. In a letter written to a friend in 1961, Marlen describes the difficulty with its composition:

I am writing on my novel and everything is very cumbersome because I never have much time, and mainly because I can not embarrass myself. I must continuously inquire whether what I say about animals and plants is actually correct. One can not be precise enough. I would be very happy, indeed, if I were able to write the novel only half as well as I am imagining it in my mind.

Haushofer commented a year later in a letter to the same friend:

I am extremely industrious. My novel is completed in its first draft. I have already completed one hundred pages of the rewrite. Altogether there will be 360 pages. Writing strains me a great deal and I suffer from headaches. But I hope that I will be finished by the beginning of May (I must allow at least four weeks for the typing)... And the household must keep on running also. All that is very difficult for me because I can only concentrate on one thing and forcing me to be versatile makes me extremely nervous. I have the feeling as if I were writing into the air.

Her autobiographical account of a childhood, ''Nowhere Ending Sky'', was published in 1966. Her overall addition to Austrian literature, as well as her last short-story collection, ''Terrible Faithfulness'', earned her a

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 in 1968. Her last novel, ''The Loft'', was published in 1969.

Death and legacy

In 1970, she died of

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...

at a clinic in Vienna. Her writing has influenced authors like Nobel Prize winner

Elfriede Jelinek Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors writing in German today and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-vo ...

, who dedicated one of her ''Princess Plays'' to Haushofer. She was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering, after which her ashes were buried in Steyr City Cemetery.

Bibliography

*''Eine Handvoll Leben'' (1955). ''A Handful of Life'' *''Die Tapetentür'' (1957). ''The Jib Door'', trans. by Jerome Carlton Samuelson (1998) *''Wir töten Stella'' (1958, novella). '' We Murder Stella'' *''Die Wand'' (1963). ''

,'' trans. by Shaun Whiteside (1990) *''Himmel, der nirgendwo endet'' (1966). ''Nowhere Ending Sky'', trans. by Amanda Prantera (2013) *''Schreckliche Treue'' (1968, short stories). ''Terrible Faithfulness'' *''Die Mansarde'' (1969). ''The Loft'', trans. by Amanda Prantera (2011)Haushofer, Marlen (2011). ''The Loft''. Translated by Amanda Prantera. Quartet Books. . Original title: ''Die Mansarde''.

References

External links