Portrayals of Women in Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall and The Loft

In Poland quite obscure, Marlen Haushofer (1920–1970) was an Austrian writer whose artistic work fell on the 1950s and 1960s. In her lifetime neither the novels nor the shorter prose works she was an author of won much recognition. Only the 1980s and the intense feminist actions made literary critics have a new look at Haushofer’s works. Since that time she has been regarded as a representative of women’s writing. Her main characters are women going through their everyday problems, living in solitude, having their anxious moments, suff ering the consequences of wrong life choices and the eff ects of traditional and rigorous upbringing. What is not to be blotted out of their memories is wartime experiences. Even though they do not talk about it, those memories come flooding back as isolated pictures. There are more such pictures, as these are not only situations “experienced” from the family  life but also situations likely to happen, expressing thoughts that were concealed for many  years. In the novel The Wall (1963), the heroine, finding herself by sheer coincidence in a forest retreat, writes a report on a couple of months spent in extreme conditions. Writing is for her, on the one hand, a way of surviving and, on the other hand, it gives her the possibility of reflecting upon her whole life. The heroine of The Loft (1969) finds a place for herself in a house which shelters her from the seemingly well-ordered family life and in which she can devote herself to drawing without being controlled by anyone. She tries to find her true self, which is almost entirely alien to her. In her whole life she had a hard time that she withstood by keeping a diary. Haushofer narrates in a highly disciplined manner. She uses a limited number of stylistic devices but they are selected very carefully. In the end, we deal with extremely subjective and interesting prose writing.  

In Poland quite obscure, Marlen Haushofer (1920–1970) was an Austrian writer whose artistic work fell on the 1950s and 1960s. In her lifetime neither the novels nor the shorter prose works she was an author of won much recognition. Only the 1980s and the intense feminist actions made literary critics have a new look at Haushofer’s works. Since that time she has been regarded as a representative of women’s writing. Her main characters are women going through their everyday problems, living in solitude, having their anxious moments, suff ering the consequences of wrong life choices and the eff ects of traditional and rigorous upbringing. What is not to be blotted out of their memories is wartime experiences. Even though they do not talk about it, those memories come flooding back as isolated pictures. There are more such pictures, as these are not only situations “experienced” from the family  life but also situations likely to happen, expressing thoughts that were concealed for many  years. In the novel The Wall (1963), the heroine, finding herself by sheer coincidence in a forest retreat, writes a report on a couple of months spent in extreme conditions. Writing is for her, on the one hand, a way of surviving and, on the other hand, it gives her the possibility of reflecting upon her whole life. The heroine of The Loft (1969) finds a place for herself in a house which shelters her from the seemingly well-ordered family life and in which she can devote herself to drawing without being controlled by anyone. She tries to find her true self, which is almost entirely alien to her. In her whole life she had a hard time that she withstood by keeping a diary. Haushofer narrates in a highly disciplined manner. She uses a limited number of stylistic devices but they are selected very carefully. In the end, we deal with extremely subjective and interesting prose writing.