published as the result of a competition sponsored by the Austrian Office for Women’s
Affairs and the Jugend und Volk publishing house. This was held at a time when gender
roles were being questioned in Austria as in other countries. The stories explore male
and female stereotypes and look at still-prevalent prejudices, but also try to paint an
authentic and vivid picture of the social background, and do not aim to be didactic.
Foremost among the writers of this period is Christine Nöstlinger, whose new and
unconventional style, based on the picturesque Viennese dialect, swept away a number
of traditional taboos. She has achieved great success with her many realistic stories set
against a carefully described background. She drew on her own experiences for Maikäfer
Flieg [Fly Away Home] (1973), a story of the last weeks of the Second World War from the
viewpoint of an 8-year-old girl living in Vienna. In Rosa Riedl Schutzgespenst [Guardian
Ghost] (1979), a timid girl is befriended by Rosa, an anti-authoritarian ghost who figures
in a number of situations in which the authority figure is either ridiculed or overruled;
past and present are brought together by the fact that Rosa was run over by a tram
when she went to help a Jewish shopkeeper during the war. One of Nöstlinger’s greatest
successes was Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig [We Don’t give a Toss for the Cucumber
King] (1972) which tells about a fantastic creature full of arrogance and claims to power,
who succeeds in deceiving a whole family and gaining authoritarian control over it, with
the exception of the child and the grandfather. Christine Nöstlinger’s books have been
translated into many languages. In 1984, she was the winner of the International Hans
Christian Andersen award.
Another author who has broken quite a lot of taboos in children’s literature is Renate
Welsh, who has been writing for children since 1970. Her books are characterised by
contemporary social themes and an ability to sympathise with young people’s problems
and their surroundings. She does careful research and one of her best-known books is
Johanna (1979), a story about a servant girl, set in the 1920s. She also writes about the
disabled, drug problems, and the problems of young delinquents, subjects which were
avoided in children’s books until comparatively recently. For Johanna she was awarded
the German Children’s Literature Award. Other topics she deals with are problems of
handicapped children, the difficulties of children of migrant workers, and gender roles.
Austrian children’s literature, however, is not only concerned with problems, but also
offers excitement and entertainment. Humour and playing with language is
characteristic, and one of the most outstanding examples is Das Sprachbastelbuch [The
Language Craft Book] (1975), a collaboration by nearly all the well-known children’s
books authors in Austria; it was edited by Hans Domenego (Helmut Leiter) who himself
has written several ironical and satirical children’s books. The Sprachbastelbuch, which
encouraged the enjoyable acquisition of experience through having fun with the
language, represented a trend in Austrian children’s literature. Ernst A.Ekker is another
author who works with children, playing with words and making nonsense rhymes with
them.
Children’s poetry developed and showed elements of humour and play and elements
of traditional Austrian poetry. The most important authoress of children’s poems is
Friedl Hofbauer, who created rhymes for very small children, and poetry with a lot of
atmosphere for older ones. Der Brummkreisel [The Humming Top] is one of her best-
known works.
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