Novel Fragment of Ingeborg Bachmann “Requiem for Fanny Goldmann”: Reception of Post-war Austrian Metropolis and Province

Abstract

The study analyzes the novel fragment of the outstanding Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973) “Requiem for Fanny Goldmann” (“Requiem für Fanny Goldmann”) from the cycle “Death Styles” (“Todesarten”). The attention is paid to the spatial organization of the text in particular to the author’s depicting of the centre and periphery of the country with an emphasis on the historical and social features of the state’s development in the first half of the 20^th century (dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, Anschluss, Holocaust etc.). The special role of Vienna as a cultural metropolis of Austria after the Second World War is stressed. The family Wischnewski and married couple Goldmann represent both the generalized image of the Austrian capital city, which contrasted with the negative stereotyped image of a periphery. As a result this phenomenon is demonstrated in the relationship of the heroine Fanny Goldmann as the representative of the exquisite Viennese society with the character of the young writer Anton Marek from the remote province. Consequently I. Bachmann shows one of the possible variants of the correlation between centre and periphery, where the Austrian province manifests its aggressive intentions towards the Vienna from its point of view as a metropolis.