Mayröcker, Friederike (Vienna, 1924- ), worked as a teacher of English from 1946, when her first poems appeared in the avant-garde periodical Plan, until 1969. Mayröcker's development as a writer falls into a number of different phases, beginning with prose, collected in the volume Larifari. Ein konfuses Buch (1956), after which she turned to poetry, published in Tod durch Musen. Poetische Texte (1966). The volumes Minimonsters Traumlexikon. Texte in Prosa (1968) and Fantom Fan (1971) contain her first experimental prose, begun in 1954 under the influence of the Wiener Gruppe, H. C. Artmann, and Ernst Jandl, with whom she formed a lasting friendship. She herself singles out the period between 1966 and 1971 as her ‘experimental years’ during which she concentrated mainly on the manipulation of language (see Konkrete Poesie and Dadaismus, though in Fantom Fan she was also influenced by Arno Schmidt). At the same time she began to write radio plays, four of them in collaboration with Jandl. je ein umwölkter gipfel. erzählung (1973) opened the major phase of her prose writings, which continued with Das Licht in der Landschaft (1976), Fast ein Frühling des Markus M. (1976), Heiligenanstalt (1978), the substantial volume Die Abschiede (1980), Reise durch die Nacht (1984), which stands out by its rich metaphoric language, Das Herzzerreißende der Dinge (1985), Mein Herz mein Zimmer mein Name (1988), and the highly acclaimed Stilleben (1991). None of these last volumes has a descriptive subtitle, though references contained in the text of Stilleben (‘denkende Bilder’, ‘Momentfilme’, ‘simulierter Collage-Roman’) indicate its experimental character. Her prose writing is always explicitly non-narrative, a point which she has repeatedly emphasized, especially in Das Herzzerreißende der Dinge, by referring to works as a ‘non-story’ (Nichtstory). She makes demands on the reader, at times excessively so, but obscurities of meaning are compensated for by the virtuosity of her use of language, her stylistic devices, her creative combination of words, her musicality, sense of colour, and wealth of metaphors. Mayröcker has described herself as an ‘Augenmensch’, and the visual presentation of deep-seated anxieties and disillusionment at the broken promises of life is particularly effective in pictures that transform a detail from nature into a surrealist vision suggesting the abrupt destruction of harmony and beauty. In her own consciousness the experience of a harmonious existence is confined to her ‘unknowing’ (unwissend) childhood. Her writing, which excludes political and social concerns, is autonomous and a form of self-analysis, a ‘Vivisektion an mir selber’, as she has also described it. The outer world is absorbed by the inner world of her experience which determines the changing perspectives of her compositions. ‘Furore: Klage Anklage Ohnmacht’ (in Winterglück. Gedichte 1982-85, 1986) is one of the rare poems exemplifying this process, for although it addresses the reader by raising the subject of our endangered planet, it is essentially concerned with her own world of artistic inspiration: ‘wie sieht / meine Welt? hält sie noch / stand? und wie lange?’

Mayröcker's creativity springs from the associative functioning of her mind, involving both dreams and reminiscences. Hölderlin, Novalis, and Rilke are among those who belong to her intimate world of poetry, and although Eric Satie is her favourite composer, her melancholy nature responds deeply to Schubert and Brahms. Among artists, Max Ernst (1891-1976), one of the founders of surrealism, and Salvador Dali (1904-91) are a source of inspiration. In 1994 appeared Lection. Mayröcker, who lives in Vienna, has received a number of prestigious prizes.

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