Letters to Felician

Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) was one of the major writers of the twentieth century, an important figure in both poetry and fiction. Letters to Felician was written, both chronologically and conceptually, just before Bachmann shifted from poetry into fiction and prose writing, making it an important document for reading her later work. Passionate declarations of love to a male figure, Felician, these fictional letters—written when Bachmann was only 18 and 19 years of age—are also a hymn to the beauty of southern Austria, underlying Bachmann's utopian visions of her later work.

Among Bachmann's important other writings are, in English translation, Songs in Flight (collected poems), The Thirtieth Year, The Book of Franza & Requiem for Fanny Goldman, Malina, and a collection of stories, Three Paths to the Lake.