Complete Stories
Will be published approx. on 20. October 2026
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-241-83788-7 (ISBN)
Description
Where does fascism begin? It doesn't begin with the first bombs that were dropped. It begins in relationships between people. Fascism lies at the root of the relationship between a man and a woman....
Ingeborg Bachmann's short fiction - each piece a razor-sharp feminist masterpiece, as urgent as a confession - arrives here in full force. This major collection draws together all the stories Bachmann wrote over her lifetime, many appearing in English for the first time.
These are intensely charged tales of power and submission, obsession and shame, which play out in cliff-side hotels, red-lit bars and court trials in Vienna, Rome and Paris. Bachmann follows lonely lovers through their stifled quarrels and private cruelties, where intimacy becomes a prison, language a weapon, and guilt the very air women breathe. As they struggle to make room for their lives within the narrowing confines of 1950s and 60s society, Bachmann exposes the legacy of fascism, lurking so close to the surface.
An undisputed giant of German-language literature, Bachmann's 'vision is so original that the effect is like having a new letter of the alphabet' (Guardian).
Ingeborg Bachmann's short fiction - each piece a razor-sharp feminist masterpiece, as urgent as a confession - arrives here in full force. This major collection draws together all the stories Bachmann wrote over her lifetime, many appearing in English for the first time.
These are intensely charged tales of power and submission, obsession and shame, which play out in cliff-side hotels, red-lit bars and court trials in Vienna, Rome and Paris. Bachmann follows lonely lovers through their stifled quarrels and private cruelties, where intimacy becomes a prison, language a weapon, and guilt the very air women breathe. As they struggle to make room for their lives within the narrowing confines of 1950s and 60s society, Bachmann exposes the legacy of fascism, lurking so close to the surface.
An undisputed giant of German-language literature, Bachmann's 'vision is so original that the effect is like having a new letter of the alphabet' (Guardian).
Reviews / Votes
Bachmann's vision is so original that the effect is like having a new letter of the alphabet. * Guardian * Bachmann writes in a Cubist prose of sudden cutoffs and reconnections that is acute and moving. She manages to convey that women are playing out the Europe of their time and before their time. * New Yorker * Bachmann's voice is rare and strong-strong enough to transport us to a new domain of fiction. * Los Angeles Review of Books * A portrait, in language, of female consciousness, truer than anything written since Sappho's Fragment 31. -- Rachel KushnerMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
650 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-83788-7 (9780241837887)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Ingeborg Bachmann (Author)
Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) was author, poet and philosopher, writing short stories, radio plays, essays and a novel, Malina. Born in Austria to a Nazi party member, she rose to prominence in the 1950s with writing that grappled with the German language "after Auschwitz". She was the constant subject of media attention for her celebrated writing, her social critique, and her famous affairs. She won all the major German and Austrian literary awards, including the prestigious Georg Buchner prize, and since her death she has been recognized as a significant influence on such writers as Guenter Grass, Max Frisch, Christa Wolf, and Peter Handke. The annual Ingeborg Bachmann Prize is one of the most important awards for literature in German.
Philip Boehm (Translator)
Philip Boehm translates books and plays by German and Polish writers such as Herta Mueller, Franz Kafka and Hanna Krall. He also works as a stage director and playwright.
Tess Lewis (Translator)
Tess Lewis is a writer and translator from French and German. Her translations include works by Walter Benjamin, Ingeborg Bachmann, Peter Handke, and Montaigne.
Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) was author, poet and philosopher, writing short stories, radio plays, essays and a novel, Malina. Born in Austria to a Nazi party member, she rose to prominence in the 1950s with writing that grappled with the German language "after Auschwitz". She was the constant subject of media attention for her celebrated writing, her social critique, and her famous affairs. She won all the major German and Austrian literary awards, including the prestigious Georg Buchner prize, and since her death she has been recognized as a significant influence on such writers as Guenter Grass, Max Frisch, Christa Wolf, and Peter Handke. The annual Ingeborg Bachmann Prize is one of the most important awards for literature in German.
Philip Boehm (Translator)
Philip Boehm translates books and plays by German and Polish writers such as Herta Mueller, Franz Kafka and Hanna Krall. He also works as a stage director and playwright.
Tess Lewis (Translator)
Tess Lewis is a writer and translator from French and German. Her translations include works by Walter Benjamin, Ingeborg Bachmann, Peter Handke, and Montaigne.