( Source: www.flashbak.com)
Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) was an Austrian poet and author. She studied philosophy, psychology, German philology and law. In 1938 Hitler invaded Austria which deeply traumatized Bachmann. One of the themes she comes back to (also in Malina) is, the person being in a constant state of war- within society or as inner struggle. She loved music, and her earliest texts arose out of a need to supplement the music she was writing with a friend.
This love and interest is also highly apparent in Malina which has a highly musical and poetic quality- besides the obvious references to music. Soon after her fame rose as an author, to get away, she located to Italy in 1953 where she lived most of the rest of her life, as well as traveling frequently. 1965 on, she became increasingly more dependent on alcohol, smoking and prescriptive drugs. In 1973 she was hospitalized after a fire caused by smoking and falling asleep in bed, and died because of withdrawal symptoms of the drugs. A cancer.
(Source: denniscooperblog.com)
Malina was originally published in 1971, as an ‘overture’ for a cycle of works titled ‘Todesarten’ (Death Styles or Ways of Dying) which Bachmann had been working on since the early 60s. The cycle was not completed, however Malina was a standalone work which contained the key themes of the cycle dealing with the portrayal of the contemporary Austrian woman’s position in the society, and her symbolic death in it, as well as in herself.
An ‘unknown’, unnamed female as the narrator and main character, the novel largely weaves between her, an Ivan and another figure with the last name of Malina. Ivan is Hungarian with two children, and lives within walking distance to her; she loves him, spends a lot of time smoking and waiting for him, wants to please him. The first chapter is titled ‘Happy with Ivan’. She lives with Malina, about whom we do not have much clue about; he is almost an ephemeral, shadow like figure in her life.
Ingeborg Bachmann’s residence at Palazzo Sacchetti Via Giulia, Rome- her last home)
(Source. www.en.wikipedia.org)
In the second chapter we read stories that sound like her nightmares, involving an incestious, abusive, murderous father figure along with a passive mother, and another daughter in need of saving. Malina comforts her during these nightmares; the chapter ends with her telling Malina there is only war (as opposed to peace and war).
Ivan wants her to write a beautiful book, but she cannot- instead starts writing ‘Death Styles’. The third chapter is mostly conversations with Malina, ending with him murdering her, putting her in the crack of a wall.
The novel is rich in symbolism, and can be read from different perspectives. The main one seems to be about the battle of the male and female parts of the self (Malina representing the male part of the narrator/ego and the relationship with Ivan representing the female). Malina murdering the narrator could be alluding to the patriarchical and fascist tendencies of the society the post-war Austrian woman finds herself in.
Although the work could be seen dark and depressing especially in its culmination, to me it isn’t. For one thing, it is beautifully written, it is an adventure where we follow crumbs, and it allows for multiple readings (of only a few I have written about).
For another, I remember reading that Bachmann said she believes in a utopic world, although she knows it will never manifest. Such seems to be the ‘war’ between the parts of the narrator’s self, or the trouble with patriarchy and fascism- the battle going on without so much regard for the outcome. The afterword by Mark Anderson is a good overview and Philip Boehm’s translation is very musical, flowing and flawless sounding- so much that it is easy to forget this book was written in another language.
‘Esteemed Malina, there must have also been a few hours and one free day a week for very limited undertakings. But I don’t know how one does live the first part of one’s life, it must be like the first part of the night, high-spirited, it was just hard for me to find those hours, because at that time I was learning to reason, and that must have claimed the rest of my time.’
‘Everything is much too threatened by large numbers, a mass has to remain something abstract, has to be the postulate of a theory, has to remain operable, it has to have the purity of mathematics, only mathematics allows billions to be beautiful, a billion apples on the other hand, is unpalatable, a ton of coffee in itself testifies to countless crimes, a billion people is inconceivably decadent, pitiful, loathsome, entangled in a black market, daily needing billions of potatoes, rice-rations and loaves of bread.’
‘Society is the biggest murder scene of all. In it the seeds of the most incredible crimes are sown in the subtlest manner, crimes which remain forever unknown to the courts of this world.’
‘Me: (più mosso) But even if there’s nothing to be done, even if we are powerless to intervene, the question nonetheless remains: what is to be done? It would be inhuman to do nothing. Malina: Calm the commotion. Disturb the calm.’
Author: Ingeborg Bachmann
Translator: Philip Boehm
Title: Malina
Published: 1990, by Holmes&Meier Publishers, Inc.
First published: 1971 (in Frankfurt, titled Malina)
Pages: 244
