Communication, performance and metaphor in Ingeborg Bachmann: three case studies

Abstract

This article examines related notions of communication, performance and metaphor in the works of Ingeborg Bachmann. The article offers close textual analysis of two of Bachmann’s radio essays of the 1950s (Sagbares und Unsagbares — Die Philosophie Ludwig Wittgensteins (1953) and Das Unglück und die Gottesliebe — Der Weg Simone Weils (1955)), an untitled poem from the 1960s included in a volume of Bachmann’s ‘unpublished’ poetic drafts, and the ‘Briefgeheimnis’ sequence in Malina (1971). It considers the philosophical background against which Bachmann wrote, using it to develop a new framework with which to consider both her lesser-known and better-known works. The three case studies presented here reveal Bachmann’s concerns about the difficulties and possibilities of language as pervading her entire work. This article examines how these concerns are framed throughout as a struggle between private language and public, performative communication.