An unnamed female writer lives in Vienna, her life split between the man with whom she shares an apartment, Malina, and the man she loves, Ivan. From this sparse premise, the book explores the narrator’s inner world — her psyche, her writing, her experience of her gender, her obsessions, her past — within the context of postwar Vienna, its cultural history, its complicities and its collective trauma.
I first heard about this book through its 1991 film adaptation by Werner Schroeter (adapted screenplay by Elfriede Jelinek), starring Isabelle Huppert a The Woman, and I’ve been curious about it for several years. It’s one of those cult feminist classics that’s regularly invoked with a mix of open-throated admiration and hushed awe. In her introduction to the 2019 edition of the English translation, Rachel Kushner calls it “a portrait, in language, of female consciousness, truer than anything written since Sappho's ‘Fragment 31.’” (1) I told myself earlier this year that I would finally read it.
A poet, novelist, essayist, journalist and translator, Bachmann wrote about feminism, fascism and the continued reach of the past. She studied philosophy, psychology and philology. In the formative stages of her career, she wrote a [critical] PhD thesis on Martin Heidegger’s approach to existentialism and became influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein… in short, one can expect profound introspection and playing with language as material and medium in her writing. (2) As a fan of Clarice Lispector, Magda Szabó and Toni Morrison (not to mention Wittgenstein), I suspect I’m primed to like Malina.
Ingeborg Bachmann by Heinz Bachmann
Some practicalities:
I’ll be reading the English translation of the text by Philip Boehm. His original 1990 translation was published by Holmes & Meier; a revised translation by Boehm was published by New Directions in 2019. I currently have both. I believe the 2019 Penguin Modern Classics edition is also the revised Boehm. Both the ND and Penguin editions are available as ebooks. (And available on Libby!) Depending on how courageous I’m feeling, I may also dip into the original German text. The Schroeter film is available on Mubi. (3)
The book is roughly 250-350 pages, and I plan to post thoughts/notes every 100 pages or so throughout July. Happy reading!
Notes:
Anne Carson’s translation in If Not Winter: Fragments of Sappho (2002):
He seems to me equal to gods that man
whoever he is who opposite you
sits and listens close
to your sweet speaking
and lovely laughing-oh it
puts the heart in my chest on wings
for when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking
is left in me
no: tongue breaks and thin fire is racing under skin
and in eyes no sight and drumming
fills ears
and cold sweat holds me and shaking
grips me all, greener than grass
I am and dead-or almost
I seem to me.
But all is to be dared, because even a person of poverty
For a short(ish) introduction to Bachmann, I suggest this Paris Review article by Emma Garman, July 9, 2019.
For more about the film, here is a New Yorker article by Richard Brody, November 15, 2020.
"as if I were merely the dispensable product of his rib" Ouch! I Enjoying the book so far. Definitely not on team Ivan.
So far I only read the letters from bachmann to Paul Celan, i was always interested in Malina. Somewhere I read it would be rather "challenging", so I was a little put off.
I am really glad, that it is your first pick and very excited hearing your thoughts about it (and also the thoughts of everybody else). My native language is German, so I will read it in German.
I checked my library, but currently there is no copy available. So mayby you have lots of fowlloers in munich sophie?