|
Press Release
Wittgenstein's Letters
- Wittgenstein's entire correspondence electronically
recorded for the first time
Vienna (FWF) - The Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote and
received more than 2300 letters during his lifetime. Sponsored by the
Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Monika Seekircher from the Brenner Archive
Research Institute at the University of Innsbruck searched for, structured
and recorded these letters in a comprehensive database over a period of
six years. Brian McGuinness (Wittgenstein researcher in Siena) and Anton
Unterkircher (also from the Brenner Archive) accompanied her in this work.
In approximately one to two years the letters and accompanying comments
should be accessible on the internet and thus available to all interested.
Ludwig Wittgenstein's correspondence shows his life and works in its
continuity and in its integration into a cultural background. It also
gives insight into his specific way of thinking, however, and frequently
offers the possibility of links to contemporaries and to the issues of
the time, in this case discussed in written form. Wittgenstein's letters
are to be found throughout the whole of Europe, but also in Canada - the
geographical curve stretches from Norway, among other countries, over
to Amsterdam and Vienna, and then right down into Italian Siena.
Many of the letters have already been published individually, but there
have been no collected works until now. "Researching the letters
requires a great deal of time and energy. Sometimes there are only summaries
of letters, but no originals. Many of these valuable pieces of writing
are still privately owned by the descendants of the original recipient
and are often locked away as well. Privacy of letters is valid up until
70 years after the death of the owner, because these letters are also
very personal in content," explains Seekircher. The rights must therefore
be clarified before publication. This also applies to the rights of people
mentioned in the letters.
Chronological register
Seekircher combined the actual work of electronically recording and annotating
the Wittgenstein letters with extensive research on the people mentioned
in them. She also looked into literary and musical allusions and summarised
her findings in alphabetical lists of people with biographies, as well
as in chronological registers of the literary and musical themes which
arose. The comprehensive letter database annotated by her is still being
continually updated as new letters turn up. The collection should eventually
be published on the internet and will be made accessible to the public
online in two years at the latest. "These letters offer us a marvellous
insight into Wittgenstein's life - separate from his philosophical works
- and so the database will promote analysis of this great thinker,"
according to Seekircher.
Monika Seekircher
Brenner Archive Research Institute, University of Innsbruck
Tel.: +43 512 507 45 12
Released by:
CLOOS + PARTNER, PR Agency
Tel.: +43 1 710 85 99
Vienna, 14 November 2002
|
