Long forgotten literary gems? Karl Heinrich Waggerl's images of the simple life: Ignorant naivité or ecocritical perspecuity avant la lettre?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Literary history can easily and quickly pass over important writers, or leave them behind because times and tastes change, or because individual poets or playwrights no longer fit into a certain cultural and political framework. This is the case with the Austrian writer Karl Heinrich Waggerl (1897–1973), who was very well known during his later years and was admired far and wide for his insightful, humorous, and meditative short stories, calendar narratives, aphorisms, and novels. Today, however, he no longer has any presence in the relevant literary histories. This article analyzes some of the central motifs in Waggerl's work and highlights timeless aspects that would justify a reorientation toward his texts. To some extent, he could be called an ecocritic avant la lettre.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)263-275
Number of pages13
JournalOrbis Litterarum
Volume73
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Christmas stories
  • Karl Heinrich Waggerl
  • Wagrainer Tagebuch
  • ecocriticism
  • village and nature
  • wisdom literature

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Literature and Literary Theory

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Long forgotten literary gems? Karl Heinrich Waggerl's images of the simple life: Ignorant naivité or ecocritical perspecuity avant la lettre?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this