Christine Lavant: Correspondence

Research project P 14110 Christine Lavant: Correspondence Wolfgang WIESMÜLLER 24.01.2000 The publication of Christine Lavant`s letters has aroused the interest of the public time and again since her death - first in the field of popular biography and later as a basis for scholarly and editorial research. Letters have been include d in selected editions of her writing and, in terms of their literary quality, are rightly considered a true part of the author`s works. Since Christine Lavant has left no diaries or other personal notes, her letters are of central and fundamental importance for any biographer. In preparation for this project Dr Ursula Schneider and Dr Annette Steinsiek, M.A. have already collected almost 1,200 letters, which they are in the process of transcribing. A systematic search should bring many more to light. Christine Lavant did not keep much of her correspondence and therefore only about 150 letters addressed to her were found among her papers after her death. The letters written by her include private correspondence as well as letters to fellow authors, publishing companies and institutions working in the fields of art and literature. They not only testify to her vision of herself as a poet but also document her creative use of the language during those ,phases of voicelessness" in which for her ,,producing works" was apparently impossible. Letters can bridge distances, a fact that was of advantage to a person who - due to her physical condition -was not very mobile. They also show how a network of interregional contacts was woven from a minor provincial point, a phenomenon which can help us to gain deeper insight into the literary and artistic world of Austria. What is more, Christine Lavant`s letters are a crucial source of reference for commenting her works. Making the letters available in a computer edition guarantees quick and ready access to them, thus also enabling us to answer queries by (Lavant)scholars promptly. The data could also be bound and stored on a CD. In this case, they should, however, be as complete as possible. It is hoped that a selection of the letters in bookform might also be published.

CL = Christine Lavant At the beginning of the project on March 15 2000 a total of 1196 correspondences written by and to CL were at hand. These letters were mostly institutional property; at the end of the project on March 31 2002 the number of correspondences was approx. 1.860. 920 of them are written by CL, in equal shares handwritten and typed; about 340 letters and postcards written by CL are not dated. 1220 correspondences are deposited in archives, 640 are in private property. We addressed inquiries to about 400 persons and institutions, a good deal of them with negative response (these will nevertheless be recorded in the edition to avoid redundant future inquiries). Until the end of the year 2001 all correspondences were transcribed, transferred and adapted to the data base. Formulating the sequel proposal to the FWF, the edition`s guidelines were developed and tested. The method chosen aims to combine the following criteria: high demands on textual scholarship - characteristics of the material - professional use of the electronic tool - efficient operation and presentation - paradigmatic demand for electronic correspondence-editions. The CD-Rom edition offers the opportunity to distinguish between "foreground-text" (text to be read) and "hidden text" (text along with diacritic informations; indicated words, persons, works of CL). The letters will be presented in accordance with the originals. Only obvious miswritings leading to misunderstanding are emendated. The CD-Rom will offer: CL`s letters; the letters she got; interesting letters of others concerning her life and matters; scans of all of CL`s letters ("virtual archives"); documents of her life; biographies of her partners of correspondence (this part of the commentary will provide extensive and reliable biographic information on Austrian literature and culture after 1945); commentaries on each letter as well as on special subjects frequently mentioned (e.g. literary prizes); memoirs; photos showing CL and/or her correspondents, furthermore pictures of her drawings; a chronicle of CL`s life. The earliest letter is addressed to a school friend and dates from 1933 (this correspondence gives valuable biographic information of the years when 17-year-old CL went to an agricultural housekeeping-school); she wrote the last letter a month before her death on June 7 1973 - a reminder to her publishing house to remit debts. Only one letter dates from the years 1938-45 (a short communication of her marriage). In a letter from December 1945 she informs a friend that she did not write any letters in the last 10 years except a few (and we assume no prose or verse either). Recently, searching for letters, two long and unknown pieces of prose could be found (one of them "Aufzeichnungen aus einem Irrrenhaus") as well as a number of poems, partly unknown. In the preface of the "Aufzeichnungen" that were published in the meantime, the editors (Dr. Ursula A. Schneider, Dr. Annette Steinsiek, the employees of this project) proved the possibilities of commenting the works by interpreting the letters. Enclosed poems will be edited with the letters, since they are considered as their genuine background. The collected letters meanwhile show certain patterns: in the 1950s and early 1960s we find an intense literary correspondence (publishers, magazines, colleagues); we find friendships with different matters of interest alternating with each other; we see periods in which CL promoted her own literary career and we see periods of a total retreat. We hear about her journeys, about her participation at poets` and other meetings. As a whole the letters represent a far-reaching network of contacts, leading us from little St. Stefan in the Lavant-valley to Israel, Iceland and Istanbul. The letters can be read as fragments of her approaches to life, according to her respective partner of correspondence adopting a more religious, more philosophical, more spiritual, more psychological or a more pragmatic point of view. As foreseen, the letters form part of her literary production, either in using literary elements, or in supplying statements about her writing and writings.