Abstract / DOI
«When the Christmas trees went up in flames». Religious Traces in the Late Works of Friederike Mayröcker.
This essay investigates some intrinsic conceptualizations of the Sacred in some of Friederike Mayröcker’s more and most recent works. Particular reference is made to Adam Elsheimer’s painting Flight to Egypt (1609) and the poetic momentum Mayröcker derived from it. Furthermore, it compares Mayröcker’s word-driven ‹spirituality› to Christine Lavant’s poetic renderings of religious experiences as well as the way in which she alludes to musical compositions in this context. The essay suggests that religious references in Mayröcker’s works are particularly prominent in connection with evocations of Hölderlin/Scardanelli.