Weigel, Hans

Weigel, Hans
(1908–1991)
   Critic, translator, essayist, novelist, and editor, Weigel was among the founders of the cabaret Theater am Naschmarkt in 1934. For a few years thereafter he wrote several librettos for their productions. His parents were Jews; they fled to the United States in the 1930s and never set foot in Austria again. Weigel himself immigrated to Switzerland in 1938. Unlike his father and mother, however, he remained strongly attached to his native city. He returned to Vienna in 1945, bringing with him two senses—presence in a place and absence from it—that helped him to toggle between acceptance and criticism of an environment that he had left out of necessity, not choice.
   By 1947, Weigel was the center of a group of intellectuals who gathered at the Café Raimund directly across from the Vienna People’s Theater (Volkstheater). Almost without exception they were burdened with the experience of having lived through World War II either as young adults or as children.
   Among them was the young Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann, with whom Weigel had an exceedingly complex erotic and professional relationship. His most important novel, Unfinished Symphony (Unvollendete Symphonie, 1992), is a frankly autobiographical account of an exiled Jew’s return to Austria and his efforts to reconnect with, yet retain, his sense of Jewish particularity. The specific conceit in which he centers this personal drama is a relationship with a youthful Austrian female artist, whom Weigel later admitted was Bachmann. Written chiefly from the perspective of a female protagonist who expresses herself through inner monologues, which Bachmann used heavily, the narrative also reveals the emotional bonds between Weigel and Vienna’s distinctive features: its differentiated neighborhoods, its psychologically resonant architecture, and its still-powerful commitment to a musical and theatrical heritage that had survived the military and moral catastrophe of the Nazi regime and World War II.
   For all of his self-involvement, Weigel was sincerely supportive, intellectually and materially, of fresh literary talent in Austria. He also labored to keep alive the work of great Austrian writers of the past. His commentaries on the work of the great comic playwright Johann Nestroy were notably sensitive. In his last years, Weigel became an ardent anticommunist. He led the movement to deny Bertolt Brecht Austrian citizenship when the stateless German poet and playwright left the United States in 1947 under pressure from the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities.
   See also Literature.

Historical dictionary of Austria. . 2014.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Hans Wollschläger — (* 17. März 1935 in Minden; † 19. Mai 2007 in Bamberg) war ein deutscher Schriftsteller, Übersetzer und Literaturkritiker, der vor allem durch seine Übersetzung von James Joyces Roman Ulysses sowie seine Karl May Biografie bekannt geworden ist …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans Weigel — bei einem Vortrag anlässlich der Buchwoche 1974 (Wien, Hofburg). Julius Hans Weigel (* 29. Mai 1908 in Wien; † 12. August 1991 in Maria Enzersdorf) war ein freier Schriftsteller und bis 1962 auc …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Weigel — ist der Name folgender Personen: Andreas Weigel (* 1964), deutscher Politiker Bertram Weigel (1950–1976), deutscher Künstler Christian Ehrenfried Weigel (1748–1831), deutscher Naturwissenschaftler Christoph Weigel d.Ä. (1654–1725), deutscher… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz — (* 16. März 1840 auf Schloss Poschwitz in Poschwitz, heute Stadt Altenburg; † 11. Dezember 1893 in auf dem Familienschloss Lemnitz in Lemnitz, Thüringen) war ein deutscher Sprachwissenschaftler und Sinologe. Er gilt als einer der Begründer der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Weigel — (or Weigl) is a German surname.Weigel*Andreas Weigel, German politician and member of the Bundestag *Christian Ehrenfried Weigel, German scientist *Erhard Weigel, German scientist *George Weigel, American writer and religious commentator *Hans… …   Wikipedia

  • Hans-Joachim Bunge — Hans Bunge (eigentlich Hans Joachim Bunge; * 3. Dezember 1919 in Arnsdorf; † 27. Mai 1990 in Berlin) war ein deutscher Dramaturg, Regisseur und Autor. Berühmt wurde Bunge durch seine Gespräche mit Hanns Eisler über Brecht. Grab von Hans Bunge auf …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Weigel — Weigel,   1) Hans, österreichischer Schriftsteller, * Wien 29. 5. 1908, ✝ Maria Enzersdorf am Gebirge 12. 8. 1991; war Kabarettist, Journalist und Theaterkritiker in Wien; emigrierte 1938 in die Schweiz, ab 1945 wieder in Wien; geistreich… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Hans Lohberger — (* 25. Jänner 1920 in Graz Waltendorf; † 4. Oktober 1979 am Reinerkogel bei Graz) war ein österreichischer Schriftsteller. Er hat weit über 6.000 Gedichte und über 10.000 Aphorismen verfasst. Er war Mitglied des Steirischen Schriftstellerbundes.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans Dichand — (January 29, 1921, Graz – June 17, 2010, Vienna[1]) was an Austrian journalist, writer, and media businessman. He published the tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung, Austria s largest newspaper in terms of readership, in which at the time of his… …   Wikipedia

  • Hans Trüb — (* 26. August 1889 in Aarau; † 8. Oktober 1949 in Zürich) war ein Schweizer Arzt und psychoanalytischer Psychotherapeut. Leben und Werk Ab 1909 studierte Trüb Medizin in Zürich und machte dort Bekanntschaft mit C. G. Jung. 1915 schloss er das… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”