Awake. Get up. Snow outside. The diary or journal as a literary genre enjoys huge popularity in the publishing world. So why is this? Because it satisfies the need for authenticity? Because a reader gets closer to a writer through his or her fictional texts? Because when filtered through a writer’s viewpoint everyday life suddenly…
2015, Literary trends across Europe
What is Austrian about Austrian literature?/ Was ist österreichisch an der österreichischen Literatur?
by Peter Zimmermann •
In Austria, an audience attuned to culture gets indignant if Austrian writers are treated as German writers. This happens now and again – I last noticed it in Eva Menasse’s case in an anthology about German-Israeli relations. I have to admit, people used to get much more hot and bothered. For instance, a few years…
2015, Literary trends across Europe
Understanding Austria: on literary criticism, Part 2/ Österreich verstehen: über die Literaturkritik, Teil 2
by Peter Zimmermann •
In part one, I explained that in Austria we practically have no professional literary criticism be it good or bad. There are a handful of managers of literary journals or literary shows. Plus, we have a larger number of part-time critics working as a sideline in many fields, including literature. The same also applies…
2015, Literary trends across Europe
Understanding Austria: on literary criticism, Part 1/ Österreich verstehen: über die Literaturkritik, Teil 1
by Peter Zimmermann •
The Feuilleton debates largely initiated by writers diagnose the condition of German-language literary criticism as feeble, if not degenerate. The tirades against the critics are a tradition that pervades the German literary scene since its inception, that is, since the late 18th century. I should be more precise: since the origins of the interplay of…