Marlen Haushofer
Marlen Haushofer was born in Frauenstein, Molln, Austria on April the 11th, 1920. She went to a Catholic gymnasium that was turned in a public school under the Nazi regime. She started her studies on German Language and Literature, in 1940 in Vienna and later on in Graz. She married the dentist Manfred Haushofer in 1941, they divorced in 1950 but reunited in 1957. They had a son together, in addition to the one son she had brought to their “second” marriage.
Although Marlen Haushofer won prizes for her work and gained critics laud, she was an almost forgotten author until the Women's Movement rediscovered her, with special attention of the role of women in the male-dominated society themes in her work.
Die Wand (The Wall) can be seen as her main-work. It was published 1963, and it's a novel about a woman cut off from society that made her living on her own in the woods. Not only because of the open ending, the novel allows a big variety of interpretations.
Marlen Haushofer came down with bone cancer and died on March the 21st 1970, she was only 49 years old.
“Und doch sitzt in mir noch immer eine wahnsinnige Hoffnung. Ich kann nur nachsichtig darüber lächeln. Mit diesem verstockten Eigensinn habe ich als Kind gehofft, nie sterben zu müssen. Ich stelle mir diese Hoffnung als einen blinden Maulwurf vor, der in mir hockt und über seinem Wahn brütet. Da ich ihn nicht aus mir vertreiben kann, muss ich ihn gewähren lassen. ”