Kapitalien und Inszenierungen: der Literaturbetrieb und sein Bachmann-Preis

"Nowadays literature has to defend its mere existence. This is what the Klagenfurt competition does: it attempts to bring literature to the public, and it attempts to help the public to get to literature." With this programmatic statement Marcel Reich-Ranicki gave in 1977 the motto to one of the most controversial literary competitions of the german speaking literary world - the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Prize. The literary public or audience following the competition is complex, segmented and involved. Authors, the jury, publishers, the press and readers all come to Klagenfurt with specific intentions and different interests. One of the unpublished texts being read by the authors and discussed by the members of the jury in the face of a public present physically and as media audience is awarded the prestigious Ingeborg-Bachmann-Prize. Although this four-day process is the nucleus of the event, the text is but one element in an entire field of groups, positions, relations and intentions. Only the concurrence or convention of all forces of the literary field establish what is known as the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Competition. In the present study the analysis and interpretation of this event follows one of the most popular metaphors for a highly competitive process: the "literary stock exchange", thereby centering on the activities of the one group that takes the highest risk: the authors. The introduction outlines the theoretical model setting the frame for further investigations (capital theory according to Pierre Bourdieu). Chapter one shows the conditions for the creation of the competition under the aspects of literary history (Gruppe 47, literary prizes and events of the 60s and 70s in Austria) and of political and media related developments (municipal cultural policy, involvement of ORF/Austrian Broadcasting Corporation). Chapter two describes the event as a metaphorical stock exchange for assets and securities valid in the literary field. Strategies and concepts of the founders are scrutinized with regard to the function of the competition and its appeal to different groups of participants and/or audiences. The essential part of the study (chapter 3) describes the competition from the authors` point of view (basis: empirical data), thereby concentrating on the prerequisites for an invitation to participate and the influence of the competition for the further literary career. The evaluation of the authors` questionnaires and interviews is confronted with press statements and empirical data gathered from jury, press, publishers and audience. Therefore the complex trading of symbolic capital can be viewed under aspects that are more differentiated than a mere review of the press. Chapter four supplements the historical and sociological aspects by analysing media related part, i.e. the activities at the scene of action itself, the ORF auditorium in Klagenfurt. The staging of the event appears to follow the dramatic rules of classical drama using elements from television shows and event-marketing. The roles and functions of the participating groups of actors are accurately fixed. Finally the example of Urs Allemann and his highly debated text titled Babyficker shows what happens, if the actors `forget their part`, i.e. cross the boundaries of literary discourse and therefore find themselves amongst a political controversy far from any literary context and far from their sphere of influence.