The Austrian poet and author Ingeborg Bachmann's War Diary has been translated into English by Mike Mitchell, edited by Hans Holler, and published by Seagull Books (2011), with assistance from the Goethe-Institut branch of India, of all places. It is a handsome little book. A stunning black-and-white etching and aquatint make the cover. The diary, written when Bachmann was only eighteen, details her experiences and observations of the final year of World War II and the first year of the British occupation.
For background about the diary and an excerpt, please check out this Seagull Books blog post.
Bachmann died prematurely, at the age of 46 in 1973, several weeks after a fire in her bedroom. I'm filled with sadness whenever I learn of writers who die before their time.
I finished Saturday yesterday and am so glad to have read it. I think it is definitely one of McEwan's best. I wish I could say more but, for some reason, the pain I've had taxes my verbiage to the point where there is nothing left.
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