Friederike Mayröcker

Friederike Mayrocker

brütt, or The Sighing Gardens is the hallucinatory tale of an obsessive writer’s love affair late in life as told through the daily journal entries of the writer—a montage of relentless observation interspersed with found materials from newspaper articles, literature, and private correspondence. The process of aging and the process of writing are two persistent and carefully intertwined themes, though it is apparent that plot and theme are subordinate to the linguistic experiments that Friederike Mayröcker performs as she explores them. Mayröcker is known for crossing the boundaries of literary forms and in her prose work she creates a hypnotic, slurred narrative stream that is formally seamless while simultaneously overstepping all the bounds of grammar and style. She is always pushing to expose the limits of language and explore its experimental potential, seeking a re-ordering of the world through the re-ordering of words. Her multilayered texts are reminiscent of the traditions of Surrealism and Dadaism and display influences from the works of Beckett, Hölderlin, Freud, and Barthes. Yet, much of Mayrocker’s writing simply has no corollary and the experience of reading Roslyn Theobald’s brilliant translation grants the English-speaking audience an unforgettable encounter with this completely original work.

Brutt, Or The Sighing Gardens

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 that is as magical as it is honest, the speaker reflects on issues such as time, childhood, and the process of aging. In light of our ultimate destination of death, the question reverts to what it means to be alive. Life is seen as an opportunity for self-development, that is, for creativity coupled with sexuality, which for an author means writing.

Friederike Mayrocker

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