Anna Seghers, Ausflug der toten Mädchen [Excursion of the Dead Girls]

Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1946

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

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Counted among Anna Seghers’ aesthetically most successful and clearly autobiographical works, the novella

Ausflug der toten Mädchen

[

Excursion of the Dead Girls

, 1946] masterfully interweaves past, present, and future narrative strands to create a profile of the manifold catastrophic effects of National Socialism on the ordinary German citizen. Seghers wrote the novella between 1943 and 1944 while living in exile in Mexico, during and after her recovery from serious injuries suffered in a mysterious accident. Presumed to have been either hit by or thrown out of a car in June 1943, Seghers remained in critical condition for weeks, and hospital bound for months. The loss and eventual regaining of her memory, along with her general disorientation and extreme homesickness at this time…

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1434 words

Citation: Marston William, Jennifer. "Ausflug der toten Mädchen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16888, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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