Susanne Wantoch

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Susanne Wantoch (born July 28, 1912 in Trenčín , † July 1959 on the Raxalpe , today Rax) was an Austrian writer. Her work is shaped by her exile in China .

Life

Born as Susanne Eisenberger, the later sinophile writer grew up in Linz . The father was a chemist, the mother worked for the social democratic daily newspaper Oberösterreichisches Tagblatt . She passed her Matura in Vienna in 1930. In 1931 she joined the youth organization of the Communist Party of Austria , later the KPÖ itself. With her husband, the doctor Arno Theodor Wantoch, she emigrated to London in November 1938 and finally to Shanghai. From there, the couple moved inland and settled in Henan Province . Theodor died soon after due to illness. Wantoch only returned to Austria after the war. She drew a large part of her subjects from modern China, which she had experienced in the tension between the civil war and the Japanese occupation, including for the novel Nan Lu. The city of winding roads . This was published in 1948 by Globus, the house publisher of the KPÖ, but had no response, which may be due to the anti-communist and anti-Jewish sentiment in post-war Austria. From 1947, Wantoch established herself as a journalist in Vienna, primarily for socialist and communist newspapers (such as the Austrian Diary ), especially from 1952 with a focus on film criticism. After the communist suppression of the Hungarian people's uprising in 1957, Wantoch alienated himself from the KPÖ and lost a large part of its sources of income. She died in 1959 on a mountain hike. Since the circumstances of death have never been clarified, there is still no consensus as to whether it was an accident or suicide.

Works

  • Nan Lu. The city of winding roads. A story from today's China. Vienna 1948. New edition udT Nan Lu. The city of winding roads , ed. and with an afterward from Tomas Sommadossi. Berlin 2018.
  • (Transl.) Hewlett Johnson : A quarter of humanity. China's new creative age. Vienna 1954. Original: China's New Creative Age . London 1953.
  • The house on Brigittastrasse. Novel. Vienna 1955.
  • 16 days in the new Romania. Report on the study trip of a group of Austrian intellectuals through the Romanian People's Republic . Vienna 1955.
  • From nothing to nothing an iron balcony. Poems . Vienna 1970.

literature

  • Erich Hackl: Discontinued since 1959. First report on the writer Susanne Wantoch. In: Erich Hackl: Postscriptum. Linz 1996, pp. 11-26. Printed in: Erich Hackl: In a tight embrace. Stories and reports . Zurich 1996, pp. 290-317; Susanne Wantoch: Nan Lu. The city of winding roads . Berlin 2018, pp. 103–121.
  • Manfred Mugrauer: ›The Holy Flame‹. About the communist writer Susanne Wantoch and an unpublished collection of stories about the Austrian resistance struggle. In: Zwischenwelt 24 (2007), H. 3. Special issue: Menschenbilder, pp. 24–34.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erich Hackl: Since 1959, in: Nan Lu . Berlin 2018, pp. 118f.
personal data
SURNAME Wantoch, Susanne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Trenčín
DATE OF DEATH July 1959
Place of death Raxalpe