»We Didn’t Do Well« – The Bachmann Frisch Correspondence

With Letters from Relatives, Friends and Acquaintances | Edited by Hans Höller, Renate Langer, Thomas Strässle and Barbara Wiedemann. Coordination: Barbara Wiedemann | With photographs and facsimiles
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»We Didn’t Do Well« – The Bachmann Frisch Correspondence / »Wir haben es nicht gut gemacht.«
With Letters from Relatives, Friends and Acquaintances | Edited by Hans Höller, Renate Langer, Thomas Strässle and Barbara Wiedemann. Coordination: Barbara Wiedemann | With photographs and facsimiles

50,000 copies sold to date

In the top 20 of the SPIEGEL-bestseller list for 11 weeks

A unique document of a love affair with all its ups and downs

One of the most spectacular correspondences of literary history between one of the most illustrious couples of German-language literature: the letters of Max Frisch and Ingeborg Bachmann, published from the estates after decades of non-disclosure – a major literary event!

Spring 1958: Ingeborg Bachmann – celebrated poet, winner of Literary Prize of Gruppe 47 and cover star of Der Spiegel – is broadcasting the radio play Der gute Gott von Manhattan. Max Frisch, busy with productions of Biedermann und die Brandstifter, writes to the »young poet« and expresses his enthusiasm for her radio play. Bachmann’s reply in June 1958 marks the beginning of an exchange of letters that – from the time they met until long after their separation –...

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Spring 1958: Ingeborg Bachmann – celebrated poet, winner of Literary Prize of Gruppe 47 and cover star of Der Spiegel – is broadcasting the radio play Der gute Gott von Manhattan. Max Frisch, busy with productions of Biedermann und die Brandstifter, writes to the »young poet« and expresses his enthusiasm for her radio play. Bachmann’s reply in June 1958 marks the beginning of an exchange of letters that – from the time they met until long after their separation – bears witness to the life, love and suffering of one of the most famous couples in German-language literature in almost 300 surviving documents: closeness and distance, admiration and rivalry, jealousy, impulses to flee and fear of loss, but also the difficulties of working in a shared flat and the tension between being writers and being a couple – the themes of the autobiographical testimonies are timeless. Their love has left traces in both Bachmann’s and Frisch’s books, some of which can only be illuminated through the lens of their correspondence. The letters show once again that life and work cannot be separated; they are intimate messages and world literature at the same time.

The dramatic, hitherto unpublished correspondence, expertly annotated by Bachmann and Frisch scholars, paints a new, surprising picture of the relationship and calls into question traditional assessments and assignments of blame.

»This correspondence belongs among the greats of German literary history. With the help of the … [editors’] comments, one can trace the various references to novels, stories [and] and Frisch’s diaries in detail, can compare literature and life, facts and fictions. But one can also read it as a work in its own right, as an epistolary romance novel of epochal force, full of euphoria and hope, full of pain and sadness. … The tragic punchline of this love between two eminent writers of this century lies in the fact that they have written one of their greatest works both together and alone.« Richard Kämmerlings, Welt am Sonntag

»The correspondence, terrifically curated by the editors, is not just a sensation because now literary history has to be revalued. It is also a gripping literary testament to an impossible love between two people who were ahead of their time.« Martina Läubli, Manfred Papst, Peer Teuwsen, Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag

»They were the most famous couple of German-language literature. Now, finally, many years after their deaths, the letters exchanged between Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch have been published. They are a sensation.« Iris Radisch, Die Zeit

» … a breathtakingly passionate and agonizing correspondence.« Andreas Platthaus, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

»There is probably only one work in German literature that can compare to the strength and despair emanating from the correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch: the 1912 to 1917 correspondence between Franz Kafka and Felice Bauer … The present volume documents the potentially unique case of two writers who have fought for their love over the course of many years with equally intense language and equal urgency.« Andreas Bernard, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»This is great literature.« Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»»We Didn’t Do Well.« (a Frisch expression) is literature that initially surprises with how little of it seems old-fashioned, even though the societal sea change is not yet fathomable at the beginning of the correspondence in the late 50s.« Judith von Sternburg, Frankfurter Rundschau

»… of incredible intensity … »We Didn’t Do Well.« [reads] like an epic, sometimes highly poetic love story.« Gerrit Bartels, Der Tagesspiegel

»an epochal correspondence … a sensational document« Helmut Böttiger, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»The publication is not just a gift to literary scholars … and lovers of literature …, it is, first and foremost, also a gift to everyone who knows or wants to know the scary maelstrom a great love can cause.« Susanne Beyer, Der Spiegel

»What makes the publication of these letters an event is not least of all their literary quality. In them, two writers are trying to find linguistic expression for the drama of their life – and not least of all to stand up to the literary expertise of the other.« Daniel Graf, Republik

»… a fascinating and irritating, inspiring and shocking read ...« Martin Ebel, Tages-Anzeiger

»A tremendous spectacle ... For a long time, no book has affected me like this one.« Thea Dorn, ZDF – Das Literarische Quartett

»Stylistically superb, it offers very human insights and puts some anecdotes in a new light.« Joachim Scholl, Deutschlandfunk Kultur

»The correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch is highly significant for literary history, moves readers with delicate descriptions of the happiness and misery of love and proves that people who can write wonderfully about feelings are nevertheless helplessly at their mercy.« Wolfgang Schneider, SWR

»This correspondence definitely gets to you. But now we know much more about how Frisch’s novel Gantenbein came to be, and the background of Bachmann’s late, aesthetically impressive Todesarten project is fully examined for the first time.« Helmut Böttiger, Deutschlandfunk

»… unique in its destructive ambivalence. … The excellently edited correspondence … reads like a novel at times. The back and forth between Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch has timeless recognition value. It moves and shocks.« Franziska Hirsbrunner, SRF
»This correspondence belongs among the greats of German literary history. With the help of the … [editors’] comments, one can trace the various references to novels, stories [and] and Frisch’s diaries in detail, can compare literature and life, facts and fictions. But one can also read it as a work in its own right, as an epistolary romance novel of epochal force, full of euphoria and hope, full of pain and sadness. … The tragic punchline of this love between two...
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Ingeborg Bachmann was born on June 25, 1926 in Klagenfurt. She first rose to prominence as a poet after reading her work at a gathering of the legendary Gruppe 47. She went on to publish two collections of poetry, Die gestundete Zeit (1953) and Anrufung des Großen Bären (1956), along with numerous radio plays, essays, and short story collections. In 1971, she published her only completed novel, Malina. Bachmann passed away on 17 October 1973 in Rome.
 

Ingeborg Bachmann was born on June 25, 1926 in Klagenfurt. She first rose to prominence as a poet after reading her work at a gathering of the...

Max Frisch, born in Zurich in 1911, first worked as a journalist, later as an architect, until his breakthrough as a writer with his novel Stiller (1954). This was followed by the novels Homo faber (1957) and Mein Name sei Gantenbein (1964) as well as short stories, diaries, plays, radio plays and essays. Frisch died in Zurich on April 4, 1991.
Max Frisch, born in Zurich in 1911, first worked as a journalist, later as an architect, until his breakthrough as a writer with his novel...

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

» What Are We Going to Do With Our Lives?«
Year of Publication: 2025
Ingeborg Bachmann, Heinrich BöllYear of Publication: 2025
A young poet, who presented her work to the Gruppe 47 for the first time in 1952, and a man nine years her senior, already an established writer. In their letters, Ingeborg Bachmann and Heinrich Böll talk about politics and literature, religion and travel, and time ang again, about the material prerequisites of writing: money and a roof over their heads. Over many years, they read each other’s...
Flight Novella
Year of Publication: 2024
Thomas SträssleYear of Publication: 2024
Erfurt, 1965: two students meet at the ‘House of the Red Army’. She is from East Germany, 21 years old, he is Swiss, 23. They fall in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together, but they’re separated by the Iron Curtain. The idea that he might join her in the East is inconceivable, so they desperately look for a way to get her to the West. When they realise that it is not possible to...
»Senza casa«
Year of Publication: 2024
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2024
Autobiographical essays, a ›war diary‹ and previously unpublished autobiographical material, along with the ›Neapolitan Diary‹ from Bachmann’s heady days as a freelance writer. Gathered together for the first time in this new volume of the Salzburger Bachmann Edition, these texts offer new insights into the life of this remarkable author. Questioning and correcting stereotypical images of...
Invocation of Ursa Major
Year of Publication: 2022
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2022

The verses in Ingeborg Bachmann’s second collection of poetry, Invocation of Ursa Major (1956), caused a sensation when they were published and soon became canonised: they were immensely...

Rights sold to:

Italy (Adelphi)

The Thirtieth Year
Year of Publication: 2020
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2020

In 1956, at 30 years of age, Ingeborg Bachman began with the first drafts for the book, which is now to published in the Salzburger Bachmann Edition. It would take five years until all seven stories had been submitted to Piper Verlag ready for publication in the spring of 1961 and the first volume could be published in July that same year.


Of the writing phase the...

Andorra
Year of Publication: 2020
Max FrischYear of Publication: 2020
The nucleus of the play Andorra can be found in Max Frisch’s journal as an entry from they year 1946. »Andorra« is the name of a model that shows the process of a shift in consciousness...
Rights sold to:

UK rights (Bloomsbury), France (Gallimard), Italy (Mondadori), Japan (Matsumotokobo)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Cátedra), Catalan (Editorial Andorra), Portuguese rights (Artistas Unidos), Arabic world rights (Dar Almanara), Netherlands (Schokland), Korea (Seoul National UP), Hungary (Európa Könyvkiadó), Bulgaria (Krug), Greece (Melani), Albania (Buzuku), Israel (Or Am Publishers)

Questionnaire
Year of Publication: 2019
Max FrischYear of Publication: 2019

»Do you consider yourself to be a good friend? Are you a good friend to yourself?« Twenty-three questions on the subject of friendship lie between these two queries. Max Frisch’s...

Rights sold to:

Russia (Libra), Netherlands (Borgerhoff-Lamberigts), Denmark (Basilisk), Sweden (Faethon), Czech Republic (Pulchra), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Georgia (Sulakauri)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg)

»Write down everything that is true«
Year of Publication: 2018

The hitherto unpublished and unknown correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Hans Magnus Enzensberger allows one to relive how, after the Second World War, two of the most prominent writers in the German language chose to depict and regard the world, literature and the publishing industry, but also how they wished to present and be regarded themselves.


One was...

Sketches of an Accident/Sketches of an Accident Victim
Year of Publication: 2018
Max Frisch, Uwe JohnsonYear of Publication: 2018
In his Sketchbook, 1966–1971, Max Frisch published fragments of a story under the title »Sketches of an Accident«. In these fragments, the doctor Viktor travels with his lover, Marlies, a specialist in Romance studies, to Provence. An accident occurs, and the woman dies. Viktor is never again involved in an accident, but the rest of his life is influenced by his...
Male Oscuro
Year of Publication: 2017
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2017

Ingeborg Bachmann’s dream notes, correspondence drafts and records from the time of her illness are of great literary interest as the primary elements of the subsequent Todesarten-texts. In addition, these writings are apt to further our knowledge about her illness and the phenomenon of illness itself. They are outrageous, courageous in their analytic approach, defeated...

The Book Goldmann
Year of Publication: 2017
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2017

The Book Goldmann is the name Ingeborg Bachmann gave to her great narrative project, which she cherished until the end. This edition renders the previously only fragmentarily...

Rights sold to:

Turkey (Can)
 

Ignorance as State Security?
Year of Publication: 2015
Max FrischYear of Publication: 2015
In his final typescript, in a deeply personal way and in a novel literary form, Max Frisch engaged with the national scandal that rocked Switzerland in 1989 and 1990: almost a million Swiss citizens had been under State surveillance during the Cold War. On individualised index cards or »fiches« the Attorney General’s Office created a chronicle of suspicion, whose grotesque banality served...
From the Berlin Journal
Year of Publication: 2014
Max FrischYear of Publication: 2014
The legendary Berlin Journal is one of the great treasures in Max Frisch’s posthumous papers. Frisch himself mandated that it not be published until twenty years after his...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), French world rights (Zoé), Italy (Armando Dadò), Poland (Czarne), Czech Republic (Archa), Turkey (Yapi Kredi)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook rights (DAV), German Book Club rights (Büchergilde Gutenberg)

The Radio Familiy
Year of Publication: 2011
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2011
In autumn of the year 1952, a »chain-smoking mermaid with angel’s hair who more whispered than spoke« entered the radio play department of the American occupied forces Rot-Weiß-Rot...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Turkey (Can)

War Diary
Year of Publication: 2010
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2010
The present volume for the first time compiles the war diary Ingeborg Bachmann kept from late summer 1944 to June 1945, as well as the surviving letters from Jack Hamesh – a unique document...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), France (Actes Sud), Italy (Adelphi), Poland (Czarne), Denmark (Grif), Czech Republic (Pulchra), Ukraine (Osnovy), Israel (Hakkibutz Hameuchad – Sifriyat Poalim)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Akal)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Audiobuch)

Drafts for a Third Sketchbook
Year of Publication: 2010
Max FrischYear of Publication: 2010
The typescript of a previously unknown work was discovered in the Max Frisch Archive in Zurich in 2009. A total of 184 pages, dictated by Frisch, typed from tape by his secretary. A...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), France (Grasset), Italy (Casagrande Edizioni), Sweden (Faethon), Finland (Lurra), Poland (W.A.B.), Czech Republic (Paseka), Bulgaria (Lege Artis)

An Answer from the Silence
Year of Publication: 2009
Max FrischYear of Publication: 2009

Max Frisch’s literary career began in 1934 with the novel Jürg Reinhart, a summery tale of the road to destiny. Three years later in the German publishing establishment he...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), France (Gallimard), Italy (Del Vecchio), Czech Republic (Archa), Turkey (Kolektif)

Herzzeit – The Bachmann–Celan Correspondence
Year of Publication: 2008
Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul CelanYear of Publication: 2008
»Books of this stature appear only every few decades.« Deutschlandradio


The correspondence from the period 1948-61 – a last letter penned by Celan...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Portuguese rights (Antígona), Chinese simplex rights (China Renmin UP), Russia (Ad marginem), France (Seuil), Italy (Nottetempo), Netherlands (Meulenhoff), Denmark (Vandkunsten), Sweden (Ellerströms), Japan (Seidosha), Poland (A5), Czech Republic (Pulchra), Bulgaria (Panorama), Romania (Art), Turkey (Kirmizi Kedi), Ukraine (Knihy XXI), Georgia (Ibis)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Fondo Cultura), Croatia (OceanMore)

Montauk
Year of Publication: 1975
Max FrischYear of Publication: 1975

»I want to describe this day, nothing but this day, our weekend and all of this happened, what happens next, without inventing anything.«


»Max Frisch’s candid story of his...

Rights sold to:

USA & Canada (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Spanish world rights (pocketbook; PRH / DeBolsillo), Argentina (hardcover; Pinka), Arabic world rights (Al Kamel), France (Gallimard), Italy (Mondadori), Netherlands (Van Gennep), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Georgia (Sulakauri), Armenia (Antares), Azerbaijan (Alatoran), Israel (Kinneret, Zmora, Bitan, Modan)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Chinese simplex rights (Chu Chen), Russia (AST), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Weilin & Göös), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Mlada Fronta), Slovakia (Slovensky Spisovatel), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Romania / Republic of Moldova (Polirom), Estonia (Verrak), Latvia (Liesma), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers Union), Slovenia (Beletrina), Greece (Melani)

I’m Not Stiller
Year of Publication: 1973
Max FrischYear of Publication: 1973
Upon entering Switzerland, Mister White is arrested because the police believe he is the missing sculptor Anatol Ludwig Stiller. Former friends confirm their suspicion. Yet White denies this...
Rights sold to:

USA & Canada (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), UK & Commonwealth (Seagull), Arabic world rights (Mamdouh Adwan), France (Grasset), Italy (Mondadori), Korea (Munhakdongne), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Ukraine (Fabula), Georgia (Sulakauri), Azerbaijan (Alatoran), Israel (Zmora), Amharic (Hohe)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Catalan rights (Ediciones Proa), Chinese simplex rights (Chongquing), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Editora Siciliano), Portuguese rights (Arcadia), Netherlands (Van Gennep), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Alba), Norway (Tiden Norsk), Finland (Weilin & Göös), Japan (Hakusuisha), Poland (Muza), Czech Republic (Odeon), Hungary (Europa), Romania (Polirom), Croatia (Prosveta), Slovenia (Beletrina), Greece (Kedros), Albania (Asdreni), Ukraine (Folio), Afrikaans (Afrikaans Pers Boekhandel)

Sketchbook, 1966–1971
Year of Publication: 1972
Max FrischYear of Publication: 1972
»By the time Swiss author Max Frisch published the second volume of his diaries or sketchbooks, he had achieved international recognition as a writer and dramatist. In this volume, he develops...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), France (Gallimard), Italy (Felltrinelli), Korea (Segaellbo), Poland (W.A.B.), Czech Republic (Archa), Slovakia (Slovensky Spisovatel), Romania (Univers), Slovenia (Studentska Zalozba Beletrina), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Macedonia (Magor Doo), Kosovo / Albanian (Shtëpia Botuese PA)

Malina
Year of Publication: 1971
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 1971

In Malina, originally published in German in 1971, Ingeborg Bachmann invites the reader into a world stretched to the very limits of language. An unnamed narrator, a writer in Vienna, is...

Rights sold to:

USA & Canada (New Directions), UK & Commonwealth (Penguin), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Antígona), France (Seuil), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Koppernik), Denmark (Grif), Sweden (Ellerströms), Korea (Minumsa), Japan (Chikuma Shobo), Czech Republic (Opus), Serbia (Kontrast), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Potlatch), Albania (Aleph), Ukraine (Fabula), Georgia (Palitra L), Armenia (Antares), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Akal), Catalan rights (Edicions 62), Norway (Bokvennen), Finland (Weilin & Göös), Poland (A5, Polish audio book: Mala Litera), Slovakia (Slovensky Spisovatel), Hungary (Jelenkor), Bulgaria (Na Otetschestwenia Front), Romania (Humanitas), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers Union), Slovenia (Pomuska Zalozba), Macedonia (Tri), Israel (Hakibutz Hameuchad / Sifriat Poalim)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg), German Audiobook (DAV), German Radio Play (HR2)

Gantenbein
Year of Publication: 1964
Max FrischYear of Publication: 1964
A man sits in his flat, alone. The carpets are rolled up, the shutters closed, the furniture is covered with white cloths. »Of the people who once lived here, one thing is certain: one male,...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), France (Gallimard), Italy (Mondadori), Netherlands (Meulenhoff), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Turkey (Can), Georgia (Sulakauri), Armenia (Antares), Israel (Zmora Bitan Modan)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Russia (AST), Portuguese rights (Arcadia), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Bonniers), Finland (Otava), Korea (Chaek-Se-Sang), Japan (Sanshusha), Poland (Znak), Czech Republic (Mlada Fronta), Slovak Republic (Slovensky Spisovatel), Romania (Polirom), Latvia (Jumava), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers Union), Croatia (ZORA), Slovenia (Beletrina), Greece (Melani), Albania (PA), Ukraine (Folio)

Homo faber
Year of Publication: 1957
Max FrischYear of Publication: 1957

Max Frisch‘s Homo faber is one of the most important and most-read books of the 20th century. It tells the story of a middle-class UNESCO engineer called Walter Faber, who believes in a...

Rights sold to:

USA & Canada (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), UK & Commonwealth (Penguin), English audio book (Seagull), Arabic world rights (Kanaan), France (Gallimard), Italy (Feltrinelli), Denmark (Gyldendal), Korea (Eulyoo), Japan (Hakusuisha), Czech Republic (Archa), Romania (Curtea Veche), Croatia (V.B.Z.), Serbia (Sumatra), Turkey (Can), Greece (Patakis), Ukraine (Fabula), Georgia (Sulakauri), Armenia (Antares), Israel (Hakibbutz Hameuchad)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Basque rights (Elkarlanean), Catalan rights (Edicions 62), Chinese simplex rights (Chongqing), Russia (AST), Portuguese rights (Guanabara), Netherlands (Atlas), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Otava), Iceland (Mal Og Menning), Poland (Weltbild Polska), Slovakia (Smena), Hungary (Sziget), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Latvia (Jumava), Lithuania (Baltos Lankos), Slovenia (Beletrina), Macedonia (Magor), Albania (Dudaj), Ukraine (Osnovy), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)

Deferred Time
Year of Publication: 1953
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 1953

For the young Ingeborg Bachmann and her generation, the great hope after the war soon proved deceptive. The themes in Bachmann's first volume of poetry, Deferred Time (1953), are representative of the experience that defines writing after 1945: Departure and farewell, guilt and memory. In the dramatic gestures and memorable images of her poetic language, this experience found a...

Sketchbook, 1946–1949
Year of Publication: 1950
Max FrischYear of Publication: 1950

Max Frisch's sketchbook is a survey. His reports from Europe between the years of 1946 and 1949, the accounts of his encounters in the post-war years are of both historic and current...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), France (Gallimard), Italy (Felltrinelli), Poland (W.A.B.), Czech Republic (ERM Nakladatelstvi), Slovakia (Premedia), Bulgaria (Bakalov), Romania (Univers), Serbo-croatian world rights (BIGZ), Serbia (AED-Studio), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Kohlias), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)


DISCOVER

News
17 October 2023 marks 50 years since the passing of Ingeborg Bachmann