Marlen Haushofer, Die Wand [The Wall]

Pamela S. Saur (Lamar University)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1963

Places

Austria (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Die Wand [The Wall, 1963] is the best-known novel of the Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer (1920-1970). It is narrated by an unnamed female protagonist, left alone in a post-apocalyptic world after a disaster, never fully explained, who learns to survive on her own with a few animal companions. Her new home is a hunting lodge in the Alps where she has been a guest. Her hosts leave her alone for a brief trip to town. The next morning they are still gone and an enormous wall is stretched across the landscape. The woman can see through the wall, which is impenetrable but transparent. All living creatures on the other side are dead, suddenly frozen in their tracks.

Written during the first wave of the Cold War, the novel …

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1388 words

Citation: Saur, Pamela S.. "Die Wand". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 January 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20560, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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