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Dramatic sketches full of surprising, unpredictable twists and
turns from a major twentieth-century German-language author.
 A member of the Gruppe 47 writers’ group which sought to
renew German-language literature after World War II, Ilse Aichinger
(1921–2016) achieved great acclaim as a writer of fiction,
poetry, prose, and radio drama. The vignettes in At No Time each
begin in recognizable situations, often set in Vienna or other
Austrian cities, but immediately swerve into bizarre encounters,
supernatural or fantastical situations. Precisely drawn yet
disturbingly skewed, they are both naturalistic and disjointed,
like the finest surrealist paintings. Created to be experienced on
the page or on the radio rather than the stage, they echo the magic
realism of her short stories. Even though they frequently take a
dark turn, they remain full of humor, agility, and poetic freedom.
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The first English translation of a major work of postwar German
poetry. Austrian writer Ilse Aichinger (1921-2016) was a member of
the Gruppe 47 writers' group, which sought to renew German-language
literature after World War II. From a wide-ranging literary career
that encompassed all genres, Squandered Advice was Aichinger's sole
poetry collection. The book gathers poems written over several
decades, yet Aichinger's poetic voice remains remarkably
consistent, frequently addressing us or a third party, often in the
imperative, with many poems written in the form of a question. Even
though they use free verse throughout, the poems are still tightly
structured, often around sounds or repetition, using spare
language. Phrases are often fragmentary, torn off, and juxtaposed
as if in a collage. Isolated and haunting, the images are at times
everyday, at other times surreal, suggesting dreams or memories.
The tone ranges from reassuring and gentle to disjointed and
disturbing, but the volume was carefully composed by the author
into an integral whole, not chronological but following its own
poetic logic. This new translation makes Aichinger's critically
acclaimed book, which has inspired poets in the German-speaking
world for decades, available to English-language readers for the
first time.
A moving work of fiction from one of the most important writers of
postwar Austrian and German literature. Born in 1921 to a Jewish
mother, Ilse Aichinger (1921-2016) survived World War II in Vienna,
while her twin sister Helga escaped with one of the last
Kindertransporte to England in 1938. Many of their relatives were
deported and murdered. Those losses make themselves felt throughout
Aichinger's writing, which since her first and only novel, The
Greater Hope, in 1948, has highlighted displacement, estrangement,
and a sharp skepticism toward language. By 1976, when she published
Bad Words in German, her writing had become powerfully poetic,
dense, and experimental. This volume presents the whole of the
original Bad Words in English for the first time, along with a
selection of Aichinger's other short stories of the period;
together, they demonstrate her courageous effort to create and
deploy a language unmarred by misleading certainties, preconceived
rules, or implicit ideologies.
I now no longer use the better words. Ilse Aichinger (1921-2016)
was one of the most important writers of postwar Austrian and
German literature. Born in 1921 to a Jewish mother, she survived
World War II in Vienna, while her twin sister Helga escaped with
one of the last Kindertransporte to England in 1938. Many of their
relatives were deported and murdered. Those losses make themselves
felt throughout Aichinger's writing, which since her first and only
novel, The Greater Hope, in 1948, has highlighted displacement,
estrangement, and a sharp skepticism toward language. By 1976, when
she published Bad Words in German, her writing had become
powerfully poetic, dense, and experimental. This volume presents
the whole of the original Bad Words in English for the first time,
along with a selection of Aichinger's other short stories of the
period; together, they demonstrate her courageous effort to create
and deploy a language unmarred by misleading certainties,
preconceived rules, or implicit ideologies. In the following
decades Aichinger's work became increasingly dense, poetic, and
experimential, culminating in the iconic Schlechte Worter (Bad
Words) in 1976. This entire volume, along with a selection of short
stories from previous books in this period, is presented here for
the first time in English translation. Any false promise of a
coherent, masterful world (with its insistence of "better words")
is left behind. Instead, we have "bad words" minor everyday objects
and the freedom that comes with vigilant and playful disobedience.
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