Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (Czech: Marie von Ebner-Eschenbachová, German: Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach; September 13, 1830 â€" March 12, 1916) was an Austrian writer. Noted for her excellent psychological novels, she is regardedâ€"together with Ferdinand von Saarâ€"as one of the most important German-language writers of the latter portion of the 19th century.

Biography

She was born at the castle of the Catholic Dubský (Dubský von Třebomyslice) noble family in Zdislavice (present Czech Republic) near Kroměříž in Moravia , the daughter of Baron (from 1843: Count) Dubsky and his wife Maria, née Baroness Vockel, who came from a Protestant-Saxon background. Marie lost her mother in early infancy, but received a careful intellectual training from two stepmothers. In 1848 she married her cousin, the Austrian captain, and subsequent field-marshal, Moritz von Ebner-Eschenbach. The couple resided first in Vienna, then at Louka (Klosterbruck) near Znojmo, where her husband had a military charge, and after 1860 again in Vienna. The marriage was childless.

Marie began devoting herself to literary work. In her endeavours she received assistance and encouragement from Franz Grillparzer and Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen. Her first publicized work was the drama Maria Stuart in Scotland (German: Maria Stuart in Schottland), which Philipp Eduard Devrient produced at the Karlsruhe theatre in 1860. Then came a tragedy in five acts, Marie Roland, with several one-act dramas: Doktor Ritter, Violets (German: Das Veilchen), and The Disconsolate One.

After these limited successes in the field of drama, she turned to narrative. Commencing with Die Prinzessin von Banalien (1872), she graphically depicts in Božena (Stuttgart, 1876, 4th ed. 1899) and Das Gemeindekind (Berlin, 1887, 4th ed. 1900) the surroundings of her Moravian home, and in Lotti, die Uhrmacherin (Berlin, 1883, 4th ed. 1900), Zwei Comtessen (Berlin, 1885, 5th ed. 1898), Unsühnbar (1890, 5th ed. 1900) and Glaubenslos? (1893) the life of the Austrian aristocracy in town and country.

She also published Neue Erzählungen (Berlin, 1881, 3rd ed. 1894), Aphorismen (Berlin, 1880, 4th ed. 1895) and Parabeln, Märchen und Gedichte (2nd ed., Berlin, 1892). Von Ebner-Eschenbach's elegance of style, her incisive wit and masterly depiction of character give her a foremost place among the German women writers of her time. On the occasion of her 70th birthday the university of Vienna conferred upon her the degree of doctor of philosophy, honoris causa. An edition of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach's Gesammelte Schriften (Collected Works) began to appear in 1893 (Berlin).

She died in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.

Works

• Aus Franzensbad. 6 Episteln von keinem Propheten (6 epistles from no prophet). Leipzig: Lorck, 1858
• Maria Stuart in Schottland. Drama in five acts. Vienna: Ludwig Mayer, 1860
• Das Veilchen (The Violet). Comedy in one act. Vienna: Wallishausser, 1861
• Marie Roland. Tragedy in five acts. Vienna: Wallishausser, 1867
• Doktor Ritter. Dramatic poem in one act. Vienna: Jasper, 1869
• Die Prinzessin von Banalien. A fairy tale. Vienna: Rosner, 1872
• Das Waldfräulein (Maid of the woods), 1873
• Božena. A story. Stuttgart: Cotta, 1876
• Die Freiherren von Gemperlein, 1878
• Lotti, die Uhrmacherin (Lotti, the clock maker), in: "Deutsche Rundschau", 1880
• Aphorismen. Berlin: Franz Ebhardt, 1880
• Dorf- und Schloßgeschichten (Village and castle stories), 1883 (containing Der Kreisphysikus, Jacob Szela, Krambambuli, Die Resel, Die Poesie des Unbewußten)
• Zwei Comtessen (Two countesses). A story. Berlin: Franz Ebhardt, 1885
• Neue Dorf- und Schloßgeschichten (New village and castle stories). Stories. Berlin: Paetel, 1886 (containing Die Unverstandene auf dem Dorfe, Er laßt die Hand küssen, Der gute Mond)
• Das Gemeindekind (Child of the neighborhood) Novel. 1887
• Unsühnbar. A story. Berlin: Paetel, 1890
• Drei Novellen (Three novellas). 1892 (containing Oversberg)
• Glaubenslos? A story. Berlin: Paetel, 1893
• Das Schädliche. Die Totenwacht. Two stories. Berlin: Paetel, 1894
• Rittmeister Brand. Bertram Vogelweid. Two stories. Berlin: Paetel, 1896
• Alte Schule (Old school) A story. Berlin: Paetel, 1897 (containing Ein Verbot, Der Fink, Eine Vision, Schattenleben, Verschollen)
• Am Ende. Scene in one act. Berlin: Bloch, 1897
• Aus Spätherbsttagen. Stories. Berlin: Paetel, 1901 (containing Der Vorzugsschüler, Maslans Frau, Fräulein Susannens Weihnachtsabend, Uneröffnet zu verbrennen, Die Reisegefährten, Die Spitzin, In letzter Stunde, Ein Original, Die Visite)
• Agave. Novel. Berlin: Paetel, 1903
• Die unbesiegbare Macht. Two stories. Berlin: Paetel, 1905
• Meine Kinderjahre (My childhood). Autobiographical sketches. Berlin: Paetel, 1906
• Altweibersommer. Berlin: Paetel, 1909

Notes

References

•  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Ebner-Eschenbach, Barones Marie von". Encyclopedia Americana. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.  This work in turn cites:
  • A. Bettelheim, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach: biographische Blätter (Berlin, 1900)
  • M. Necker, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, nach ihren Werken geschildert (Berlin, 1900)

External links

• Works by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach at Internet Archive
• Works by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Biography by the Austrian encyclopedia
• Biography by the German historical Museum (in German)
•  "Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie, Baroness von". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.