Malina
Malina
By Ingeborg Bachmann
Translated by Philip Boehm
Introduction by Rachel Kushner
"Bachmann's only novel—set in Vienna and first published in 1971—takes on the vexed struggle between the sexes in a decaying city. Dense, compelling, often weirdly funny, a dark fairy tale told as a murder mystery. Rewarding and highly recommended."—Kirkus, starred review
"In the astonishing desolation and wonder that is Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina... there is no certain narrative, but there are many, deeply internalised, stories."—Nicci Gerard, The Guardian
"An existential portrait, a work of desperate obsession, a proto-feminist classic, and one of the most jagged renderings of female consciousness European literature has produced."—Dustin Illingworth, The Nation
In Malina, originally published in German in 1971, Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) invites the reader into a world stretched to the very limits of language. An unnamed narrator, a writer in Vienna, is torn between two men: viewed through the tilting prism of obsession, she travels further into her own madness, anxiety, and genius. Malina explores love, “deathstyles,” the roots of fascism, and passion.
“Fascism is the first thing in the relationship between a man and a woman, and I attempted to say that here in this society there is always war. There isn’t war and peace, there’s only war.“—Ingeborg Bachmann
Paperback
283 pages
New Directions; Reprint edition, 2019
Originally published in 1971
5.6 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
ISBN 9780811228725
Metaphysical Fiction