Lene Mayer-Skumanz has brought fresh interest and new ideas to stories with
a religious background. Her books are full of imagination, warmth, humour and
understanding of how children experience life. Some of her stories are open-ended,
inviting readers to find their own solutions, guided by principles of Christian thinking.
Hanniel kommt in die Stadt [Hanniel is Coming to Town] (1989) is typical of her work, the
tale of a guardian angel who appears in human form and helps a child to solve her
problems.
Wolf Harranth has a special place in Austrian children’s literature, as writer and
translator and he is very important for his work in training and encouraging young
authors by means of writing workshops. He himself writes mostly fantasies with a social
edge, but also realistic narratives with excellent dialogue and a comic touch. One of his
best-known books Mein Opa ist alt und ich hab ihn sehr lieb [My Grandpa is Old and I
Like him a Lot] (1981) tells of the relationship between child and grandfather when the
grandfather comes from the country to the town for a visit and is not comfortable there.
The little boy understands the old man, who secretly tends the roses in the park and
would rather tell stories than watch television.
Engendering understanding across generation barriers, as practised by Wolf
Harranth, is a particular concern of Austrian authors.
Martin Auer, who writes mainly poetry and short stories for children, and Edith
Schreiber-Wicke, popular with her fantastic stories, must also be mentioned.
After a period of artistic picture books in the first third of the twentieth century,
illustration began to flourish again about twenty years after the Second World War.
Since 1960, there have been three main types of illustration in children’s books: one is
influenced by commercial considerations, the second reflects a very personal and
committed style of interpretation and drawing, and the third is the kind of picture one
draws for one’s own children. Helga Aichinger, in books such as Ein Körnchen fur den
Pfau [A Kernel for the Peacock] (1970), which was awarded the 1971 BIB Medal in
Bratislava, creates a world of highly differentiated colours, using a crayon technique
with which she manages to produce incredible nuances of colour. Angelika Kaufmann is
one of Austria’s most important picture book artists, combining drawing and painting:
she has colourful surfaces, with brush and ink drawings to show contours and details,
and she also uses collage techniques in some of her books. She has illustrated many
prize-winning books by Mira Lobe, as did Winfried Opgenoorth.
Erwin Moser has a special place in illustration. He writes his own stories, and his
works are full of fantasy and humour; he draws in both black and white and colour and
many of his characters have become very popular also outside of Austria. His Philipp
Schnauze [Philip Bigmouth] (1982) for instance, a witty little mouse, is highly
appreciated by German children.
Another famous Austrian mouse is Hanne Turk’s Max, whose wordless adventures in
a series of small books (describing the adventures of little Max going to take a holiday or
trying to bake biscuits for Christmas and so on) have appeared in English too.
One artist, whose black and white drawings and etching technique is much
appreciated by art critics is Susi Bohdal, who also publishes many of her books in
Germany; she has won many Austrian awards, and was twice specially distinguished at
BIB.
THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE 747