The secret correspondence between Bachmann and Böll reveals!

The secret correspondence between Bachmann and Böll reveals!

Niendorf, Deutschland - The publication of the correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Heinrich Böll has again stimulated the literary landscape. The band, edited by Renate Langer, illuminates the special friendship and dialogue of the two important authors who met in May 1952 during a conference of Group 47 in Niendorf on the Baltic Sea. In his foreword, Hans Höller describes the correspondence as a kind of avoidance of personal conflicts, which was essential for both writers to preserve their self -esteem and to master the challenges of literary business. Both authors, trapped in their own concerns, discuss the question "What do we do from our lives?" In their 122 correspondence pieces - 58 letters from Bachmann and 64 by Böll.

The first letter from Bachmann to Böll, which was written in December 1952, is an answer to a lost letter from Böll. In this correspondence, not only the mutual appreciation becomes clear, but also the existential uncertainty that both writers felt. Böll, who was nine years older, had to deal with family and financial worries, while Bachmann was striving for independence despite her talents. Without responding to private revelations or poetological debates, correspondence still illuminates profound topics that shaped the life and work of both authors.

a literary friendship documented

Although the friendship between Bachmann and Böll is less well known than their respective relationships with other literary sizes, their letters record a valuable part of their literary development. In biographies of both authors, the other is usually only mentioned in passing, so that this correspondence is considered a rare and worth reading source for research and understanding. The publication of the correspondence also offers an insight into the personal thoughts of the two writers, far from their more well -known affairs and friendships with others, such as Max Frisch, Paul Celan or Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

The last letter from Böll contained in the volume, an invitation to a conference in July 1972, marked an important turn in correspondence. Almost a year later, on October 17, 1973, Böll received the news of Bachmann's death. The pain and tenderness that Böll expresses in his obituary for "Der Spiegel" are also part of the new band and illustrate the deep connection between these two extraordinary personalities of German -language literature. This obituary closes the gap between friendship and loss and rounds off the documentation of a unique literary relationship.

In addition to the letters by Bachmann and Böll, the literary world also refers to other important works. The newly published text "A place for coincidences" by Bachmann, described as one of its most daring and experimental, and the publication on Hugo Balls Dada enclosure show the diversity in German-language literary discourse and the continued relevance of Bachmanns and Böll's work within this context.

The processing and publication of these letters not only underlines the friendship between Bachmann and Böll, but also the complexity of their artistic and existential challenges, both of which ultimately combined with each other.