With Julia Bertschik, Veronika Hofeneder, Gabriele Radecke, Meike Rötzer
Welcome: Christian Hippe and Sabine Wolf
Part of the “Showcase Archive” series
Vicki Baum (1888–1960), best known internationally for her novel Grand Hotel (1929), struggled throughout her life with the label of “bestselling author”. Although she was promoted early on by Thomas Mann, she was nevertheless long considered a “mere” writer of entertainment literature. Only gradually are her texts being reread – among other things as a critique of capitalism and colonialism.
A selection of her extensive oeuvre of over 30 novels, novellas and plays is now available for the first time in unabridged original versions as an annotated edition. The six volumes present key prose texts and reflect the thematic, narrative and multilingual breadth of Baum's various stages between Vienna, Berlin and Hollywood. The edition draws on material scattered across many archives, including the Vicki Baum Archive at the Akademie der Künste.
Gabriele Radecke, director of the Akademie's Literary Archive, talks to the two editors, Julia Bertschik and Veronika Hofeneder. Meike Rötzer reads.