Hugo and Gerty von Hofmannsthal. Letters and Documents

Since January, 2006, the applicant of this proposal has been working on the project entitled "Hofmannsthal`s Correspondance with his wife", which is to be supported by the FWF until Dec. 31st, 2008. In the course of the work, new knowledge could be gained, deeming it necessary for the submitter to present a new project proposal, which is to be understood to be an extension of the previous one. One important aspect concerns Gerty von Hofmannsthal`s letters to third persons, which are to be found in the Freies Deutsches Hochstift in Frankfurt am Main. Samples of these letters examined by the applicant during a stay of hers in Frankfurt showed that they are of indispensable importance for the commentary. However, to the applicant it appears even more important to examine more exactly the role played by Gerty von Hofmannsthal as a mediator between Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the literary world at the turn of the century. Meaningful exchanges of letters which have been unknown to researchers until now are those between Gerty von Hofmannsthal and Hermann Bahr, Carl Jacob Burckhardt, Anton Faistauer, Rudolf Kassner, Max Mell, Arthur Schnitzler, Rudolf Alexander Schroeder as well as Jakob Wassermann, just to name the most important. While Gerty von Hofmannsthal wrote on behalf of her husband at the start, on the basis of her personality and her social position an independent relationship between her and the addressees soon developed, which did not break off upon Hugo von Hofmannsthal`s death but continued to be cultivated by both sides. Examining the role of wives` influence on their husbands` literary output at the turn of the century is a want and a need of research. On the basis of three disclosed such marriages of "Jung-Wien" (Olga and Arthur Schnitzler, Paula and Richard Beer-Hofmann, Gerty and Hugo von Hofmannsthal ) this role should be worked out and evaluated for the first time. Gerty von Hofmannsthal sheltered her author husband from the outside world, with which he communicated almost exclusively through her. It is precisely for this reason that her exchange of letters is of utmost meaning and can serve as one of the most important testimonials of both Hofmannsthal`s inner and outer biography. The applicant of this proposal will devote herself to this new aspect and plans to include important letters from Gerty von Hofmannsthal to third persons in the correspondence, which will prove her important mediator role. Gerty von Hofmannsthal`s letters to third persons (as well those as from third persons to her) are for the most part in the Freies Deutsches Hochstift in Frankfurt. Meaningful collections such as the correspondence between Gerty von Hofmannsthal and Schnitzler, Borchardt and Alfred Walter von Heymel, are in the Deutschen Literaturarchiv in Marbach am Neckar. Gaining access to these exchanges of letters is of essence for the extension of the project.