Martha Berger - The life of a woman

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Book cover of the 1st edition

Martha Berger - The Life of a Woman is the title of a novel published anonymously in the spring or summer of 1925 by Rikola-Verlag in Vienna . It tells the story of overcoming the first relationship in the life of a young woman in Salzburg, characterized by abuse and dependency, during the First World War and the interwar period.

A foreword by Hermann Bahr meant that it was often ascribed to him. As far as we know today, Bahr put the book to print, the author is likely to be Amalia "Mali" Pierhofer (also Pirhofer).

Hermann Bahr writes about the author:

“The poor thing who wrote it, a child of the people, born and grown up on the borders of the petty bourgeoisie, where the danger threatens daily to plunge into the anonymous mass existence, rallies itself, threatened by a devastating experience, to internal defense and finds itself the power, hardly even half familiar with the rules of spelling, to write one's fate off one's neck, so to speak. That is really quite 'unliterary', in the highest sense. "

- Hermann Bahr : Berliner Tageblatt, March 26, 1925

content

1st chapter

At the infirmary for war invalids in Salzburg, Lieutenant Franz Leitner experiences how a young Salzburg woman from a humble background - the eponymous Martha Berger - takes care of a dying person. He falls in love with her and tries to overcome her defensive attitude. Although she lets himself be taken by surprise by his energy and zest for life, she treats him with coolness and skepticism. Even when they enter into a sexual relationship, their distance remains. Leitner is discharged as healthy and drafted again. In Steyr , he lets himself into his old soldier life again and sees himself exposed to sexual advances from active women. After a venereal disease that had previously been treated breaks out again, he ends up in a hospital in Seefeld that specializes in such diseases among members of the army . Healed again, he refuses to become sexually active with a relative in Zell am See , where he is stationed, so as not to drag the disease into the family. With Martha Berger, however, he continues his relationship. She also forgives him for a rape , which takes up the theme of his rousing lust.

Part 2

The second part shows the still fragile relationship between Franz and Martha. She becomes pregnant three times, three times he persuades her to have an abortion . Once with an angel maker , the second time Franz organizes a powder from a pharmacist and the third time a gynecologist performs the procedure  , who asks him to use contraception in the future. In order to be able to settle the costs incurred, Leitner becomes a value slider . Working in an office in his professional life, there are two women in his private life - Hilde Schulz and the merchant's daughter Ahringer, whom his mother provides for him and whom Martha sees as a constant threat. But he swears to Martha at his father's grave, where he has sworn off masturbation , to always stand by her. Martha, in turn, rejects an admirer who has led her sick brother home. She has to give up her job to care for her brother and is now forced to go to the Attersee at regular intervals to get food.

3rd part

The third part is a continuation of the second, only with a relocation of the location more into the private sphere. The hikes and visits to a bathhouse (as a married couple) lead to pregnancy again. The fourth abortion takes place at Martha's home while she cares for her mother. Loisl, a boy living with Bergers, comes in his admiration close to discovering the reason for Martha's weakness for Franz. Out of jealousy, Franz arranged for him to move. While Martha's mother increasingly accepts Franz and scolds Martha for her behavior towards him, she tries to escape from the relationship. Franz's character proves to be weak in many places, for example when he lends her a loaded weapon that leads to a leg injury in her and he lies to the authorities when his money pushing increases and he ultimately also involves Martha, but also in the inability to to put a stop to his mother. The story is told of this, she cheated on her husband, who had married her out of a sense of honor. Martha plans to flee to the relatives in Merano , where her father is staying, in order to finally end the relationship and to carry the new pregnancy to term. Franz succeeds one more time in winning her back and persuading her to have an abortion.

4th part

In the last part, Franz takes Martha home with him. His mother has gone away and Martha recognizes from the nearby sleeping places of the widower and her son why he is so familiar with the female anatomy and is confirmed in her judgment of the moody and spoiled mother, as she runs a very neglected household. Franz announces Martha's move into the apartment in a few weeks and then carries out the abortion, which cannot be completed due to lack of time. Martha is now traveling to Merano to relax, but on the one hand she gets sicker and on the other, Franz stops communication by post. When, months later, she loses the remains of the abortion, but Franz forbids visiting a hospital by letter, she travels back. She finds Franz engaged, but not to Hilde, whom he loves, but to Maria, the unattractive merchant's daughter, through whom he hopes to pay off his debts and keep his lifestyle. Martha confesses everything to her family, but prevents the complaint. Franz rapes her again and then manipulates her to commit suicide with powder. The one who has suffered also follows him in this, but survives. Realizing that Franz just wanted to get her out of the way, she travels to Merano again, where she truthfully puts her story on paper over the course of a year and teaches others. After she has finished and the return journey is promised, she dies.

Style test

“The mild evening air, wafting through the open window, released the unbearable tension. The full moon was looking straight into the lightless room, shining in the agitated being in the twitching face. - 'Yes, yes, Franz, it is as you say it is, it is true, a child again! And I also know when. - Do you remember how you were so unnaturally violent, how you didn't know how to hold on? - How you safely carried out your will to knowingly make me your mother so that you could have full enjoyment? - Do you remember how I resisted, hit you? - Today you still have the scars on my nails! It didn't help me, you were superior to me. Yes Franz, cursed my weakness, which made me powerless and brought you to your destination. - Your perverse greed is now in your eyes again! Fully aware of your actions, you plunge me safely into the abyss in order to satisfy your sensual pleasure. For you it means the culmination of all lusts when you can murder my child with a thousand tortures. (Page 433) '"

Publisher's report

In the estate of Hermann Bahr there is another short text by Amalie Pierhofers, Viper! titled, as well as a copy of the publisher's report, most likely by Bahr. In addition to the honorable mention of the text, the reviewer advocates changing the location of the action back from Neustadt to Salzburg and not making any cuts, except for stylistic and orthographic changes.

“In the language finally the fine artistic instinct of the author reveals itself most clearly. Despite the innumerable orthographical and stylistic errors, an unheard-of skill in sentence and expression can be recognized. Accurate new word formation, skilful change in presentation style and tempo [...] The work is of the highest value as far as the purely human is concerned, the artistic form is strong, genuine and captivating. "

Autobiography vs. fiction

The extent to which the story is based on true facts can no longer be determined. While the reported death  seems to rule out an autobiography in the end (Hermann Bahr reports that he received the manuscript from the author), the detailed and drastic description of a life in Salzburg is based on what has actually been experienced. The anecdote reported by Karl Hopf that the book would have caused a scandal when it was published and that Martha's friend (which is probably the real template for Franz Leitner) bought all the copies in Salzburg supports the view that it is an autobiography in third person acts. Death in the end could represent a mystification that the author chose to preserve her anonymity.

Literary classification

As the life story of a young woman in the twenties, it is one of many. The relationship with the novel Therese , published the following year, is exciting . Chronicle of a woman's life by Arthur Schnitzler who shares scenes and themes with Martha Berger . But while Martha has six abortions, Therese backs away from them. In contrast to the novel The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun , it shows a  fantasy that is less committed to the New Objectivity , Big Goals and Projects. The closeness to Hedwig Courths-Mahler made by Bahr in his foreword seems to be based primarily on the linguistic presentation; the plot itself refuses to search for literary effects, for which the latter is famous.

literature

  • Martha Berger - The life of a woman. Vienna, Leipzig, Munich: Rikola 1925.
  • Hermann Bahr: November 28th. In: The magic wand. Hildesheim: Franz Borgmeyer 1927, 282–288.
  • Hermann Bahr: Martha Berger. Berliner Tageblatt, 54 (1925) # 145, evening edition, 4th (March 26, 1925) Text (PDF file; 1.90 MB)
  • Karl Hopf: Hermann Bahr in Salzburg. In: Hermann Bahr - The Lord from Linz. A documentation in cooperation with the Adalbert Stifter Institute of the State of Upper Austria and the archive of the city of Linz. Stadtmuseum Linz - Nordico, Bethlehemstraße 7 September 13 to October 7, 1984. Catalog of the Linz City Museum, # 39, 139.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Listed as a new publication in issue 8 of the 10th volume of the book worm, p. 246.
  2. ↑ Alternative title page with handwritten changes in Bahr's estate in the Austrian Theater Museum
  3. ↑ Martha Berger is Amalia Pierhofer