Incentives - Neue Literatur aus Österreich

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[ Buchtipp von Incentives ] Not a fairy tale: Since Franzobel won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize 1995 in Klagenfurt, he has been famous in German-speaking countries. An overnight success, so to speak.

From one day to the next  Arigona Zogai, the “blessed virgin of integration" (Franzobel), also gained renown – a girl from Kosovo who was to be deported with her family after living in Austria for five years. This immigration authority measure polarized Austrian society. On the one side were those people suddenly apostrophized as Enemies of Foreigners and on the other side were the members of the Humanity Party, including Franzobel. Even the municipal council of Frankenburg in Upper Austria at first championed the family’s cause; later the mood turned.

Franzobel turned the Arigona story into literature in his own inimitable way: Albin, Albona, Alfred, Alban und their father Devat Zogaj were returned to their homeland in the fall of 2007. Their (at the time) 15-year-old sister Arigona went into hiding, threatened to kill herself and could not be found for days. She was aided by Josef Friedl, a priest from Ungenach who has become just as famous. In his Arigona essay, Franznobel delivers an apt analysis of Austrian society when he writes: “In Austria, people are still afraid that the Other, the Turks, the Slovenians, the Muslims, could one day take over the country and enslave the Austrians. The Austrians are afraid the Austrians, who are all named Czerny, Prohaska, Zilk, Kalina, Novotny, Belovic, Spera and the like, will die out. That’s why an endangered species program for Austrians is needed, otherwise they will one day disappear.”

Franznobel calls his book “a fairy tale” and explains clearly and precisely why: “Arigona is a fairy tale character, a poor and innocent girl who loses her family and must live in a world that is hostile towards her. She must pass tests, she hopes for a miracle and in the end she even gets to live in a castle. And this all takes place in a beautiful fairy-tale country inhabited by numerous wolves and dwarves.” (Daily newspaper “Kurier”, July 28, 2009, p. 25.)

Review by Janko Ferk, August 2009
Original version: http://www.literaturhaus.at/index.php?id=7061

[ Info ] Franzobel, : Österreich ist schön. Ein Märchen. (original language: Deutsch) Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Wien, 2009 . ISBN: 978-3-552-05473-8.