Hans Carl Artmann

Artmann, Hans Carl (St Achatz am Walde, Austria, 1921- ), usually referred to as H. C. Artmann, is an Austrian avant-garde writer and was from 1952 to 1958 a member of the Wiener Gruppe. He is an experimenter with words, interested in montage and concrete poetry (see Konkrete Poesie) and in exploring the potentialities of baroque parody, of the grotesque, and of Viennese dialect. He published reime verse formeln (1954), XXV epigrammata, in teuschen alexandrinern gesetzt (1956), and bei überreichung seines herzens (1958). His dialect experiment med ana schwoazzn dintn. gedichtar aus bradnsee (1958) attracted much attention. He also collaborated with F. Achleitner and G. Rühm in the volume of dialect poetry hosn rosn baa (1959). Verbarium followed in 1966, allerleirausch in 1967, and ein lilienweißer brief aus lincolnshire. gedichte aus 21 jahren in 1969. Artmann dislikes genres and it is difficult to classify his works, but kein pfeffer für czermak (1954) and die mißglückte luftreise (1955) have the designation ‘kasperlstück’, Grünverschlossene Botschaft (1967) is described as ‘90 Träume’ and tök ph' rong süleng (1967) is termed ‘roman-fragment’. His stories include Die Anfangsbuchstaben der Flagge (1968) and Frankenstein in Sussex (1969). Artmann applied the diversity of his style to his translations of works from various languages; their authors include Calderón, Lope de Vega, Molière, Beaumarchais, Marivaux, Goldoni, and T. H. White. Grammatik der Rosen. Gesammelte Prosa (3 vols.), ed. K. Reichert, appeared in 1979; the collection includes Die Jagd nach Dr. U. oder Ein einsamer Spiegel in dem sich der Tag reflektiert (1977) and Nachrichten aus Nord und Süd (1978). Sämtliche persische Qvatrainen (from the years 1967 and 1968) and a volume of stories, Die Wanderer, appeared in 1978, and the volume Die Sonne war ein grünes Ei and the prose of Von der Erschaffung der Welt und ihren Dingen in 1982. Apart from gedichte von der wollust des dichtens in worte gefaßt (1989) and an adaptation of Kleist's Der zerbrochne Krug (1992), Artmann has added few new titles to his substantial work; wer dichten kann ist dichtersmann (1986, ed. C. Weiss and K. Riha) is the most notable collection.

Artmann spent a number of years travelling in various European countries, lived for a time in Sweden and in West Berlin, and in 1972 settled in Salzburg, where he was awarded the city's Prize for Literature in 1991.