Christine Lavant: Correspondence

The point of departure for the KGCL is the dissertation of Annette Steinsiek (1997). It provides insight into how the letters of Christine Lavant (CL) document the outer and the inner stations of her life as well as how a commentary is able to provide access to the information those letters contain. The FWF has funded the KGCL since March 2000 with two Research Projects (P 14110, P 15546). The aims of the first project were to collect and to transcribe the letters and to develop a concept for the edition. The assumption of this project was that letters are an important literary genre for CL - at a stage when the exact volume of her correspondence was not yet clear. The amount and quality of the letters that have been collected confirmed the assumption - and formed the challenge for the second project, which was dedicated to the establishing of the texts and producing a commentary upon them. Since the text has been established, the aims of the current project are: 1) the completion of the commentary to individual letters (Einzelstellenkommentar); 2) writing a commentary upon selected themes in the correspondence (`monographical zones`, Flächenkommentar); 3) producing short biographies of the partners in the correspondence; 4) completion of an annotated index of books read by CL; 5) scanning of the remaining letters for the "virtual archives"; 6) proofreading with a view to establishing the texts (Kollationierung); 7) selecting letters for the book edition; 8) completing the electronic component of the edition (master CD-Rom). Meanwhile, the KGCL has set up a data base for the benefit of the current project. It contains copies of individual publications (Einzelveröffentlichungen) of CL`s works, transcriptions of published and unpublished poems and stories, articles from newspapers and journals, photos, CL`s dedications, a documentation of drawings and paintings of CL; the reconstruction of CL`s library. The KGCL has already passed a crucial turning point inasmuch as duplication within the commentary can be eliminated by substituting simple cross-references. Apart from that the large number of letters simplifies dating procedures. Currently we possess 1900 letters written to and from 210 correspondents (1200 letters written by CL). Further 800 letters, which shall not be published, are available for the commentary. CL`s correspondence and its commentary promise to provide CL scholarship with a new foundation as well providing sources for literary history generally. The commentary on the persons involved in the correspondence will be a contribution to a biographical lexicon of Austrian literature as well as to Carinthean cultural history (particularly after 1945). New light will be shed upon specific psychological and social conditions under which a female writer worked in Austria between 1933 and 1973.

The point of departure for the KGCL is the dissertation of Annette Steinsiek (1997). It provides insight into how the letters of Christine Lavant (CL) document the outer and the inner stations of her life as well as how a commentary is able to provide access to the information those letters contain. The FWF has funded the KGCL since March 2000 with two Research Projects (P 14110, P 15546). The aims of the first project were to collect and to transcribe the letters and to develop a concept for the edition. The assumption of this project was that letters are an important literary genre for CL - at a stage when the exact volume of her correspondence was not yet clear. The amount and quality of the letters that have been collected confirmed the assumption - and formed the challenge for the second project, which was dedicated to the establishing of the texts and producing a commentary upon them. Since the text has been established, the aims of the current project are: 1) the completion of the commentary to individual letters (Einzelstellenkommentar); 2) writing a commentary upon selected themes in the correspondence (`monographical zones`, Flächenkommentar); 3) producing short biographies of the partners in the correspondence; 4) completion of an annotated index of books read by CL; 5) scanning of the remaining letters for the "virtual archives"; 6) proofreading with a view to establishing the texts (Kollationierung); 7) selecting letters for the book edition; 8) completing the electronic component of the edition (master CD-Rom). Meanwhile, the KGCL has set up a data base for the benefit of the current project. It contains copies of individual publications (Einzelveröffentlichungen) of CL`s works, transcriptions of published and unpublished poems and stories, articles from newspapers and journals, photos, CL`s dedications, a documentation of drawings and paintings of CL; the reconstruction of CL`s library. The KGCL has already passed a crucial turning point inasmuch as duplication within the commentary can be eliminated by substituting simple cross-references. Apart from that the large number of letters simplifies dating procedures. Currently we possess 1900 letters written to and from 210 correspondents (1200 letters written by CL). Further 800 letters, which shall not be published, are available for the commentary. CL`s correspondence and its commentary promise to provide CL scholarship with a new foundation as well providing sources for literary history generally. The commentary on the persons involved in the correspondence will be a contribution to a biographical lexicon of Austrian literature as well as to Carinthean cultural history (particularly after 1945). New light will be shed upon specific psychological and social conditions under which a female writer worked in Austria between 1933 and 1973.