Marie Helene Frauendorfer was born in Frauenstein,Municipality Moln in Upper Austria. She attended Catholic boarding school inLinz, and went on to study German literature in Vienna and inGraz. After her school years she settled inSteyr.
In 1941, she married Manfred Haushofer, a dentist, and had two sons, Christian and Manfred.[2] They divorced in 1950, only to remarry each other in 1958.
Haushofer began her writing career in 1946, publishing short stories in newspapers and magazines. In 1952, she published her first book,Das fünfte Jahr, which earned her the Österreichische Förderungspreis für Literatur in 1953. She went on to publish her first novel,A Handful of Life in 1955, and in 1956, she won theTheodor Körner Prize for her contributions to art and culture. In 1958, her novellaKilling Stella was published.
The Wall, considered her finest achievement, was completed in 1963.[3] The novel was written out four times inlonghand between 1960 and 1963.[4] In a letter written to a friend in 1961, Marlen describes the difficulty with its composition:
I am writing on my novel and everything is very cumbersome because I never have much time, and mainly because I can not embarrass myself. I must continuously inquire whether what I say about animals and plants is actually correct. One can not be precise enough. I would be very happy, indeed, if I were able to write the novel only half as well as I am imagining it in my mind.[4]
Haushofer commented a year later in a letter to the same friend:
I am extremely industrious. My novel is completed in its first draft. I have already completed one hundred pages of the rewrite. Altogether there will be 360 pages. Writing strains me a great deal and I suffer from headaches. But I hope that I will be finished by the beginning of May (I must allow at least four weeks for the typing)... And the household must keep on running also. All that is very difficult for me because I can only concentrate on one thing and forcing me to be versatile makes me extremely nervous. I have the feeling as if I were writing into the air.[4]
Her autobiographical account of a childhood,Nowhere Ending Sky, was published in 1966. Her overall addition to Austrian literature, as well as her last short story collection,Terrible Faithfulness, earned her the Österreichische Förderungspreis für Literatur a second time in 1968.[5] Her last novel,The Loft, was published in 1969.[4]
In 1970, she died ofbone cancer at a clinic in Vienna. Her writing has influenced authors likeNobel Prize winnerElfriede Jelinek, who dedicated one of herPrincess Plays to Haushofer.[6] She was cremated atFeuerhalle Simmering, after which her ashes were buried in Steyr City Cemetery.
^Wassenberg, Charlotte (1998)."Autorendatenbank".Marlen Haushofer. SG Sint Ursula. Archived fromthe original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved7 April 2013.
^abcdCornick, Lisa (Spring 1992). "Identity in Women's Writings: The Proclivity of Solitude and Self – Marlen Haushofer's Austrian Utopia and Anna LaBastille's American Wilderness".Mount Olive Review: Images of Women in Literature.6. North Carolina:25–36.
^Gotschi, Beatrix (2010)."Marlen Haushofer Biografie".Marlen Haushofer. Verein Kultur Plus – EuroJournal. Retrieved7 April 2013.
^Jelinek, Elfriede (2005),Princess Dramas – The Wall, translated by Lilian Friedberg, retrieved10 April 2013
^Haushofer, Marlen (2013).Nowhere Ending Sky. Translated by Amanda Prantera. Quartet Books.ISBN0-7043-7313-0. Original title:Himmel, der nirgendwo endet.
