German professor publishes article in bilingual anthology

An article by St. Olaf College Professor of German Karen Achberger is included in a new German anthology titled Die Waffen nieder! Lay down your weapons!

The book’s title comes from an 1889 novel of the same name by Bertha von Suttner, an author and peace activist in Germany. Like the original novel, in which Suttner explores the relationship between peace and war, this new anthology comprises essays and articles of the same themes.

Achberger’s article focuses on Ingeborg Bachmann, an Austrian poet and author who has made significant contributions to German literature.

The article, titled “Ingeborg Bachmann: Composing after Ausschwitz,” details her writing against war and violence. Achberger connects Bachmann’s specifically musical way of “composing” literary texts to her relentless struggle against the kind of thinking that leads to war and atrocity.

This article is not the first time Achberger has written about Bachmann. Her book, Understanding Ingeborg Bachmann, examines Bachmann’s works and its themes of war and the absence of women in patriarchal society.

The Die Waffen nieder! Lay down your weapons! anthology is bilingual and published by Koenigshausen and Neumann in Wuerzburg, Germany.