S E C T I O N S

American and Austrian Literature and Film: Influences, Interactions and Intersections

Section Chair/ Abstracts, suggestions to:

Donald G. Daviau (University of California at Riverside/Kirchberg am Wechsel) [Bio]

Email: daviau@aon.at

ReferentInnen / Speakers   >>

ABSTRACT:

The aim of this section is to document the meaningful ways that American and Austrian Literature and Film have been interconnected over the years and how they have intersected, interacted and influenced each other. These links may involve the influence of individual authors or filmmakers or of literary and film trends and techniques. The goal is to provide examples of how the literary and film traditions of the two countries have interacted to the mutual benefit of both cultures. The idea here is to go beyond simple reception of the literature and film of the two countries to demonstrate significant points of contact between them.

I can perhaps illustrate this best by using my own proposed paper as an example. I plan to write on "Hermann Bahr and Walt Whitman." Bahr had learned about Whitman as early as 1889 and immediately considered him a kindred spirit seeking the new human being. He followed the career of this American original throughout the following years, shared his ideas, wrote on him often and ultimately devoted the entire year 1919 to reading Whitman and writing about him because he believed his ideas were particularly relevant for the postwar period. Bahr was not only profoundly influenced by Whitman, but through his writings also contributed to the spread of his reputation in Austria and Germany.

The papers can deal with any time period. Please send proposals with a brief abstract to me at the email address indicated above.

ReferentInnen / Speakers / Orateurs

• Hermann Bahr and Walt Whitman: Kindred Spirits
  Donald G. Daviau (University of California at Riverside)
  ABSTRACT

• Fräulein Else: Schnitzler’s Novella Adapted for the American Stage
  Liz Ametsbichler, University of Montana
  ABSTRACT

• Peter Henisch and the Influence of American Popular Culture
  Paul F. Dvorak (Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond)
  ABSTRACT

• Translations as Bestsellers: Vicky Baum, Franz Werfel and Stefan Zweig in American Literature
  Todd C. Hanlin (University of Arkansas, USA)
  ABSTRACT

• Austrian and American Ethnic Diversity in Lilian Faschinger’s Wiener Passion
  Joseph W. Moser (Washington & Jefferson College, Pennsylvania)
  ABSTRACT

• Mark Twain in Vienna
  Gerlinde Ulm Sanford (Syracuse University, New York)
  ABSTRACT

• Two Tales of Gothic Guilt: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Novel The Marble Faun and Adalbert Stifter’s Story “Das alte Siegel”
  Pamela S. Saur (Lamar University, Texas)
  ABSTRACT

• American Writers Reading Bernhard
  Francis M. Sharp (University of the Pacific)
  ABSTRACT

• Vicki Baum’s The Mustard Seed (1953): The American Way of Life
  Jörg Thunecke (Sherwood)
  ABSTRACT

• “Our Man in Vienna”: Friedrich Torberg’s Journal Forum and the Popularization of American Letters in Austria
  Felix W. Tweraser (Utah State University)
  ABSTRACT

• The Influence of Walt Whitman and Emile Verhaeren in Stefan Zweig’s Pre-1914 Conception of Cultural Modernism
  Nikolaus Unger (University of Warwick)
  ABSTRACT