Research Wrap Up

Done.

Done and done.

With a final visit to the Literaturhaus, I finished my research on Monday. "Finished" used in the loosest sense, because my work in the last three weeks is just the beginning of (hopefully) a lot more research in the form of a Fulbright.

Some highlights from the Literaturarchivs:

1. THE REVIEW. As in, the one that Bäcker wrote before the war, that, after the war, caused him to devote his entire life to the Epitaph project, and change literary history forever (I mean, in my opinion).
2. Complete and extensive nachschrift 2 mark-ups.
3. A draft of Bäcker's dissertation.
4. A correspondence regarding designing a gypsy memorial at Mauthausen.
5. Manuscript for the stage version of nachschrift, which contains extensive source material NOT included in the poem.

Some highlights from the Literaturhaus:

1. An interview with Bäcker, wherein he describes what it was like growing up in Nazi Austria, including how the Hitler Youth was the first place he felt accepted and included (later, he described it as teenage her-worship), and how he developed his ideas for nachschrift.
2. Press release from radio show, entitled "Are We Really Going to our Deaths?" (English translation, taken from the very first page of nachschrift)
3. Article by Bäcker about Salman Rushdie...sort of unrelated, but I love me some Salman Rushdie.

I'm so happy.

So that is finished. I have a day and a half left in Vienna, and I'm completely broke, so it's about time to go home. Today I am going to attempt another walk, like the Ottakring walk Dr. Kling and I got lost during, only down by the Prater (amusement park).

I will see you stateside, Internet.

I'd like to hire a plane,
I'd see you in the morning.
When the day is fresh,
I'm coming home again.