Wolfgang Bauer - Works, Posthumous Papers, Reception (2)

This project aims at a comprehensive monograph about the Austrian writer Wolfgang Bauer (1941-2005). In addition to the works published in his lifetime and the reception of Bauer`s oeuvre, his posthumous papers shall be taken in account for the first time. The literary estate was screened and evaluated in the former project "Wolfgang Bauer - Works, Posthumous Papers, Reception" (2008-2011). Thus the results of the former project can be presented to the academic world and the interested public. After publishing a volume of previously unreleased texts during the first project (Der Geist von San Francisco, Ritter 2011), there shall be prepared and released at least two more volumes due to the large amount of relevant texts in Bauer`s posthumous papers, from which not only essential achievements concerning the oeuvre can be made, but also texts that are relevant for the theatre can be made accessible to the public this way. By analysis of the literary estate, not only an entirely new characterization of the single texts is possible, but also the complete works can get new contours. In addition a bibliography that claims to be complete and which was developed in the former project, shall be prepared for going to press and be published in the project`s first year. This bibliography is a groundwork for future experts and students who will be engaged in reasearch into Wolfgang Bauer and related writers. Besides the bibliography is drawing a picture of the author with depth of sharpness and documents and reconstructs his oeuvre, so that it is describable in its entire complexity and heterogeneity for the first time. Overall the detailed analysis is not only correcting (a large number of) misjudgements concerning the works of Wolfgang Bauer, but it is also a necessary complement of the state of research and last but not least a characterization of the changing horizon of expectations from the late 1960`s to the first decade of the 21st century. As defined by the above the project is not only a contribution to an outstanding writer of the Austrian Avantgarde of the second half of the 20th century. It also fills a gap concerning the development / evolution of the Austrian and European drama in this period. There should be absolutely no doubt that the results of this project are essential for a new history of Austrian literature to be written. It also should be emphasized, that this project can provide the basics of a new edition of the complete works of Wolfgang Bauer.

The research project Wolfgang Bauer Works, Papers, Reception (2) was conducted with high efficiency and could be completed with great success. In a first step the Papers of the Austrian playwright Wolfgang Bauer (19412005) were screened and analyzed, a multitude of documents and archive materials were collected. In addition, interviews with witnesses were conducted and transcribed, as well as secondary literature studied. In a second step previously unpublished and in parts not yet performed texts which were discovered in the Wolfgang Bauer Papers were edited in two volumes so far (Der Geist von San Francisco, 2011; Der Rüssel. Szenische Texte aus dem Nachlass, 2015) and are now publicly available for the first time. In the course of this central part of the project, Bauers first full-length theater play, Der Rüssel, written in 1962, was discovered. The unpublished and not yet performed drama disappeared in the 1960s and was lost for more than 40 years. A facsimile of the typescript was published along with a profound essay by project assistant Thomas Antonic in the renowned literary journal Manuskripte in March 2015 and gained considerable attention from the media. The play was published along with other unknown works by Bauer in the above-mentioned collection Der Rüssel. Szenische Texte aus dem Nachlass in summer 2015. Partial results of the research project were presented at numerous international conferences and published in academic journals. A summary of the complete results of the research an analysis of Bauers complete works and their reception in combination with a biography of the playwright was written by Antonic and will be published as a book in the next months.