FRIEDRICH GLAUSER PRIZE 2011! A provincial, political crime grotesque, a Bad Fucking nightmare!

Things are brewing together in Bad Fucking: first, Vitus Schallmoser (weirdo) is found dead in his lair. Then Camilla Glyck (Federal Office of Criminal Investigation) is ordered to find the whereabouts of Marie Sperr (interior secretary), who, more or less on the side, works as a building contractor and has planned to have an asylum seekers’ hostel built in Bad Fucking. And while a team of cheerleaders practices on the sports ground of Bad Fucking, Jagoda Dragicevic (cleaning lady) decides to blackmail Dr. Ulrich (dentist) with a nude picture. In the meantime, Ludmilla Jesenská (burglar) flees from her pursuers to Vienna: she took photographs of mysterious cave paintings in Bad Fucking. All this (and more) happens while a heat wave brings almost all of Europe to a standstill and thousands of eels as well as a killer thunderstorm move towards Bad Fucking.

Post-World War II literature in Austria, from Ilse Aichinger to Christoph Ransmayer, exemplified in interpretations of the most important works of the time.

Never was the connection between Austrian identity and Austrian literature as evident as after 1945. And no one has been more able to clearly illustrate the correlation between literature and socio-cultural and political conditions as Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler. With “Bruchlinien”, he coined a term that brings Austria’s post-War literature, its developments and its struggles to the point. And he has left us a work that succeeds in demonstrating how passionate and lively literature can be discussed and pondered: enthusiastic and enthusing. The re-edition of “Bruchlinien” is the first of two volumes of Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler’s famous lectures on contemporary Austrian literature.

Anachronistic subjects revisited

Being merciful – what role does this term play in our society today? Or does it no longer play a role at all? In four short essays, Dimitré Dinev investigates this subject. He tells of personal experiences, of beggar-children who were hauled off to the West to serve Capitalism, of a country where people speak of security instead of freedom… Dimitré Dinev illustrates a society that cannot be merciful and confronts it with a person who is willing to take on responsibility. He pointedly beds this responsibility in parable-like stories, questions and striking subjects. “Barmherzigkeit” is the first of the series “Unruhe bewahren”, which was developed in cooperation with the Akademie Graz.

A fascinating and entertaining journey through the world of Falco’s language.

“Der große Edle der Wiener Lässigkeit” – the great nobleman of Viennese nonchalance – that is how Falco was once described by H.C. Artmann, who never doubted that Falco was a true poet. This is the central theme of the book: Falco, the poet. His talent for blending languages and his infamous style of German, settled somewhere between Manhattan and Schönbrunn, made Falco an international innovator and remixer of the art of language. He was the missing link between pop and avant-garde, between hits and experiment, between local slang and Esperanto. Where else could you find lines like “der schlange kur / ist nur l’amour / for sure / / der schlange kur / toujours / anacondamour“? Eight renown scholars for German studies, among them Klaus Kastberger, Günter Zimmermann and Peter Ernst, explore poetological aspects of Falco’s texts and come to surprising conclusions. How could it be any different – after all, the legend is alive!

The opera and music theater of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, from Monteverdi to Stravinsky: a life in the light of opera.

The art form of opera is more than 400 years old, but it has maged to stay young and fresh thanks to artists such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his unfailing endeavor to continuously renew this art form and our understanding of it. His 80th birthday serves as the perfect opportunity to revisit his life in the colorful world of opera. Numerous examples, from Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo“ and Mozart’s “Figaro“ to Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress“ illustrate how vivid and lively opera can be. Opera is a theater for all senses, not a dusty relic from the past, a hallow traditon or elitist vanity fair. Text, music, drama and an image of the world portrayed on stage all come together in the unique cosmos of opera, with the purpose of reflecting our human nature. And thus opera is a necessity, like all forms of art. This is what Nikolaus Harnoncourt demonstrates once more with great passion, intelligence and conviction in this enthralling book.

In August 1791 Maria von Herbert from Klagenfurt writes a letter to Immanuel Kant in Königsberg. She is asking the ageing celibate for comfort and advice – because Maria von Herbert is lovesick. This is historical documented. The young and talkative amanuensis of Kant is answering her in the name of his master and he responds to problems, the young woman is not suffering from. This is documented in Brandstetter’s way. Kant’s amanuensis reflects on various peculiarities and strangnesses; f.e. whether one can admire Kant, when one is admiring Goethe as well. And last but not least he reflects on a question, that affects all of us: how to get rid of lovesickness? This one-letter-novel is humorous, witty and smart, full of sarcasm as well as sapiency. Greetings from cant is a book is comfort and advice – but, most of all, it is a pleasurable read.