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From: "Graham Martin" <[log in to unmask]>
It was only recently - ironically on unsubscribing from Jiscmail German
Studies - that I realised how easy it is to put something on it!
Perhaps I may take the opportunity to advertise a book by myself that
was published just over a year ago. It treats the rather recondite,
but fully germanistic subject of Liechtenstein´s - both those of the
country and also of the princely house - connections with German
literature. This broadly covers texts set in Liechtenstein as well as
authors with links to Liechtenstein and its princely house.
In roughly chronological order, I deal, amongst others, with the
following selection of authors: Ulrich von Lichtenstein, who treats in
his Vrouwen dienest of his namesake Heinrich v. L.; Goethe (could the
setting of Novelle be Liechtenstein?); Jean Paul (his Siebenkäs is
appointed to a post in Vaduz, capital of the country); Brentano
occasionally mentions "Vadutz" in Gockel, Hinkel und Gackeleia and
frequently in its continuation, Blätter aus dem Tagebuch der Ahnfrau,
but perhaps he knew more of the real Vaduz than he let on; Karoline
Pichler, a learned Austrian lady of the late 18th / early 19th
centuries, mentions the Liechtenstein dynasty in various writings;
Grillparzer utters praise of mediaeval Liechtensteins in König Ottokars
Glück und Ende; Ricarda Huch and Alfred Döblin, in their respective
novels about the Thirty Years War, mention Karl v. L. as Viceroy of
Bohemia; the Swiss Jakob Christoph Heer´s writings include highly
positive descriptions of L.; Hesse wrote a short travel description
entitled "Vaduz" which concentrates on a pond in the grounds of Vaduz
Castle; the Swiss writer Hermann Hiltbrunner devoted a whole book to
creating a prose poem on L.; the Austrian writer Leopold Andrian took
out L. citizenship shortly after World War I; another Austrian, Grete
Gulbransson, had the bulk of her writings, in diary form, published
posthumously (one chunk was based on Gutenberg Castle, in the south of
the country, to which she paid frequent visits); the German writer
Werner Helwig went into exile in L. for some years during World War II
- he treats L. in various writings, including the novel Der
smaragdgrüne Drache; the playwright Curt Goetz spent the last years of
his life in L.; Dürrenmatt has Liechtensteiners as characters in two of
his late novels, Justiz and Durcheinandertal.
Contemporary writers from L. began to make their name in international
circles from the 1980s on. Michael Donhauser (poetry and prose
writings) and Patrick Boltshauser (plays) have won international prizes
for their writings.
The text of the book is richly illustrated and furnished with detailed
notes. Incidentally, the quotation in the title is a saying from
Goethe´s mother to the young Clemens Brentano. This work is admittedly
rather a jumble of topics, with the names "Liechtenstein" and "Vaduz"
forming a connecting thread throughout. If anyone should be intrigued
by it, they might like to order the book for their institution´s
library.
Bibliographical details are:
Graham Martin, "`Wo dein Himmel, ist dein Vadutz´. Liechtenstein in der
schönen Literatur", 299 pp., CHF 45.-,Coleba Verlag, Triesen
(Liechtenstein), 2007, ISBN 978-3-905324-11-2.
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