Briefe im Exil als Nekyia: Korrespondenz(en) zwischen Hermann Broch und Józef Wittlin

Abstract

This article deals with Hermann Broch (1886– 1951) and Józef Wittlin (1896– 1976), two writers born in the Austro-Hungarian empire who were formed or even stigmatized by the generational experience of the First World War. They both struggled with the problem of the representation of the war in their main novels, Die Schlafwandler (Sleepwalkers, 1930– 1932) and Sól ziemi (Salt of the Earth, 1935), respectively. The similarity between their protagonists provides the starting point for an attempt to compare the biographies and literary works of the authors. The article is based on source materials—the unpublished letters in German exchanged between Broch and Wittlin between 1945 and 1951.