On 15 Nov 97 , DAVID CHRISTENSON wrote:
> -- [ From: David Christenson * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --
>
> Laura asks:
>
> > Are people aware of female German SF writers, especially modern? And
> is in
> > fact Thea von Harbou, 1888-1954, German?
>
> My World Encyclopedia of Film says she was born in Tauperlitz, Bavaria
> in 1888 and died in Berlin in 1954. "Wrote best-selling novels,"
> including "Das Indische Grabmal" which she worked with Fritz Lang to
> adapt in 1919. Collaborated with Lang on all his films (including
> Metropolis) from 1920 to his departure for Hollywood in 1933. Married
> Lang in 1921, divorced 1934. Remained in Germany, directed two films in
> 1933 and 1934, worked on Nazi films. Wrote books and scripts after WWII.
>
> Besides Metropolis, I find in my books one other reference to an SF book
> by von Harbou: "The Rocket to the Moon," published by World in 1930
> (surely a reprint edition of another hardcover), and reprinted as late
> as 1977 by Gregg (in paperback?). Perhaps there are others.
>
Well, David already answered half of the question. 'The Rocket to the
Moon' must be 'Die Frau im Mond', which was done as a German Musical
under yet another title in the fifties. I've seen it once in my
teens.
Some weeks ago I was asked by another list member about German
female sf writers and therefore I looked around in the bookstores
(note, I could not answer offhand). That's my state of
knowledge:
1. There are hardly any German sf writers (about 20 novels and short
stories are published at the utmost each year, including anything
remotely connected to sf and fantasy (e.g. incl. children/youth
literature with fantasy elements)). A few sf and fantasy writers are
relatively well-known (Wolfgang Jeschke, Wolfgang Hohlbein, Hans
Dominick (he has written mostly in the twenties and thirties)), the
rising talents are Marcus Hammerschmidt, Andreas Eschbach, Gert
Heidenreich (all male).
2. From the list of novels and short stories I have seen for 1995
(about 15 titles) only 2 were written by women, one novel in the
children/youth section, the other a short-story. I can look up
their names if anybody wants to know.
3. Barbara Neuwirth has published a collection of short stories
under the title 'Dunkler Fluss des Lebens' in 1995 (it seems to be
out of print already). It is not sf or fantasy but more in the
'phantastic tradition' (please do not ask me to define that). I think
one can conclude from the stories that BN is a feminist. BN is
Austrian, not German.
4. Fabienne Paklieppa is another female author who has published in
a German phantastic literature series (Der Himmelsstuermer), but I
have not read her and cannot say if she is feminist or not.
5. Marlen Haushofer (another Austrian) published 'Die Wand' (The
Wall) in the fifties. That is a literary novel (I want to say it is
NOT popular fiction) employing one fantastic element to start the
story. I mention this novel because in that respect it reminds me of
'Kindred' from Butler. MH was rediscovered by feminists a few years
back. She has written about 10 novels, in which she explored the
role of women. A friend of mine did her master thesis on MH's novels,
so I read some of them. IMHO they are very good but also very
depressing. But only 'Die Wand' contains a fantastic element to my
knowledge.
In summary, there are no generally known modern German female
authors writing in the sf or fantasy genre. Science fiction and
fantasy is sold a lot in Germany but it is nearly all translated from
the English.
Petra
** Petra Mayerhofer ** pm@ier.uni-stuttgart.de **
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