Études is what Friederike Mayröcker calls her prose poetry and lyrical prose pieces, studies then, or »shreddings«, as she says, splintering, brittle and highly concentrated; the language heightened to the most essential of it only, that is the dissolution of boundaries between time and space, the transposition of the lived moment into an eternal here and now. All of them are variations on the evanescence of everything terrestrial – a motive that has long since become the dominant...
Études is what Friederike Mayröcker calls her prose poetry and lyrical prose pieces, studies then, or »shreddings«, as she says, splintering, brittle and highly concentrated; the language heightened to the most essential of it only, that is the dissolution of boundaries between time and space, the transposition of the lived moment into an eternal here and now. All of them are variations on the evanescence of everything terrestrial – a motive that has long since become the dominant one in the poeta magica’s later works which are constantly radicalising themselves.
In each étude, the scandal of the finitude of life is being subjected to an irresistible spell of metamorphosis that makes the cumbersome mundane disappear into the detachedness of poetry. Friederike Mayröcker’s études are texts written in an enchanting musical minor, melancholic, vulnerable, but full of life and firm in resisting death: »NO no death no transformation no demise no parting no unison«. The great poet shows herself uncompromisingly devoted solely to writing; her poetry is of unsurpassable linguistic boldness.
»She has composed her poetic prose volume from all sorts of ingredients, flashing images of perception and of memory, but also from what she has read, from older, yesterday’s or the day before yesterday’s notes, and creates a patchwork out of them that draws its luminosity from this heterogeneous ensemble.« Leopold Federmair, NZZ
»The new work of the great poet Friederike Mayröcker is a precise and moving calligraphy of loneliness, one she modestly calls ›études‹ and that still contains so much more than exercises.« Meike Fessmann, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»A tricky read – rewarded by mysterious delight about this fireworks of prose poetry.« Günter Kaindlstorfer, Deutschlandfunk
»What a declaration of love to the German language: In her études, Friederike Mayröcker proves herself to be a master of prose poetry.« Ernst Osterkamp, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»Written in a highly concentrated, idiosyncratic language, the author deals with life, art and poetry. […] of astounding freshness.« Dirk Hohnsträter, WDR 3
»Mayröcker spreads out detailed, in themselves fragmented splinters full of wisdom and beauty in front of the reader. They shine down into the depth of a dream, illuminate the day with enchanting images of nature and erotically charged reminiscence and contain many a beautiful, surreal jest.« Norbert Hummelt, Der Tagesspiegel
»In times of the e-Book, a poetic text can hardly begin more moving than Friederike Mayröcker’s études […] The secret of wild improvisation in Mayröcker’s poetry shows itself as artistic defiance of the hierarch yin which signs, words and sentences make reference one another. Out of the seemingly disconnected […], new textures evolve that are of a radical weightlessness.« Carola Wiemers, Deutschlandradio Kultur
»[…] a work that is as moving as it is hard to grasp has been created using all genres.« Paul Jandl, Die literarische Welt
»She has composed her poetic prose volume from all sorts of ingredients, flashing images of perception and of memory, but also from what she has read, from older, yesterday’s or the day before yesterday’s notes, and creates a patchwork out of them that draws its luminosity from this heterogeneous ensemble.« Leopold Federmair, NZZ
»The new work of the great poet Friederike Mayröcker is a precise and moving calligraphy of loneliness, one she modestly calls...
Friederike Mayröcker was born in 1924 in Vienna, where she died in 2021. From 1946 to 1969 she taught English at various secondary schools in Vienna. Her first literary works date back to 1939. She began publishing poems in journals in 1946, her first book was published in 1956. She wrote poetry, prose, plays, radio plays and children's books and was honoured with numerous distinguished national and international literary awards.
Friederike Mayröcker was born in 1924 in Vienna, where she died in 2021. From 1946 to 1969 she taught English at various secondary schools in...
»Esteemed listeners, do not try to lift the secret of this text«, orders Friederike Mayröcker in her new work of prose – but even its title leaves an infallible...
»Jimi the Polar Bear was lying in the arms of the sleeping child, his paws crossed. It was 1 very young polar pear the size of a puppy and he hardly dared to breathe so as not to wake the child. The child was dreaming that Jimi was lying in its arms and told him 1 story.«
Thus begins the short poetic story of Jimi the Polar Bear and the child Emma, told by the great Austrian poet...
English world rights (Seagull), Denmark (Arena), Sweden (Ellerstöms)
fleurs – the flowers, the flower petals, they give this book its title, make us think of spring, of mild air and gently flowing ribbons. But if you let yourself be lured onto that...
English world rights (Seagull)
Friederike Mayröcker doesn’t have time. Neither for résumé and memory, nor for extensive observations and reasoning and certainly not for storytelling. She doesn’t even have time for life itself...
English world rights (Seagull)
English world rights (Seagull), France (Atelier de l'Agneau), Denmark (Palomar), Bulgaria (Ergo)
USA (The Song Cave), Spain (Ediciones de Aqui), France (Atelier de l'Agneau)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Sweden (Ellerströms), Hungary (Pluralica)
English world rights (A Public Space), Czech Republic (Dybbuk)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Sweden (Ellerströms)
»brütt«. To Friederike Mayröcker a symbol of pain and hardship, of the cold and of grief, were it not for the »sighing gardens« that lend a soft counterbalance to the stirrings of love...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Northwestern UP), France (Atelier de l'Agneau)
France (Atelier de l’Agneau)
More than an account of a train trip from Paris to Vienna, Night Train depicts a journey through life, as conceived by the female narrator.
In poetic prose...
English world rights (Ariadne Press), France (Atelier de l’Agneau), Denmark (Palomar)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Sellerio), Hungary (Jelenkor Kiado), Lithuania (Reklamos Vertimo Leidybos Vad)