Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Verschenkter Rat: Gedichte

Rate this book
German

99 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

Ilse Aichinger

72 books36 followers
Ilse Aichinger (born 1 November 1921) is an Austrian writer noted for her accounts of her persecution by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry.
Aichinger was born in 1921 in Vienna, along with her twin sister, Helga, to a Jewish doctor (her mother) and a Christian teacher. Her mother's family was assimilated, and Aichinger was raised a Catholic.[2] She spent her childhood in Linz and Vienna, where her family was subjected to Nazi persecution starting in 1933. Aichinger began to study medicine in 1945, working as a writer on the side. In her first novel, Das vierte Tor (The Fourth Gate), she wrote of her own experience under Nazism.

After studying for five semesters, Aichinger interrupted her studies in medicine again in 1948 in order to finish her second novel, Die größere Hoffnung (The Greater Hope).

In 1953, she married the German writer Günter Eich.

In 1955, Aichinger was awarded the Immermann-Preis by the city of Düsseldorf and in 1956, she joined the Akademie der Künste of Berlin. In 1957, Aichinger won the Literaturpreis der Freien Hansestadt Bremen. In 1963, Aichinger moved to Großgmain, near Salzburg. In 1971, she was awarded the Nelly-Sachs-Preis.

Reviewing a 1957 volume of her short works in translation, The Bound Man and Other Stories, Anthony Boucher described Aichinger as "a sort of concise Kafka," praising the title story for its "narrative use of multi-valued symbolism."[3]

She was honered the German international literary Petrarca-Preis in 1982. After 1985 Aichinger increasingly retreated from public life.[citation needed] In 1987, she received the Europalia-Literatur-Preis, and in 1991, she was awarded the Großer Literaturpreis of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste|Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste. Other honors included the Großer Österreichischer Staatspreis für Literatur in 1995 and the 2001 Joseph-Breitbach-Preis, which she received along with W. G. Sebald and Markus Werner.

Aichinger is the aunt of artist Ruth Rix.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
12 (32%)
4 stars
11 (29%)
3 stars
10 (27%)
2 stars
3 (8%)
1 star
1 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Sara.
136 reviews200 followers
Read
January 21, 2020
El libro no me ha gustado, no conecto con los poemas aunque no creo que estén mal escritos, simplemente a mí no me llegan y tampoco me acaba de gustar del todo la forma. No sé muy bien por qué, no lo puntúo porque aunque no me ha gustado y en ese sentido le daría una nota baja, no creo que esté mal escrito o que sea un mal libro, y en ese sentido sería injusto.
Profile Image for Víctor Bermúdez.
544 reviews42 followers
March 1, 2026
Sind wir von Baum zu Baum
allein geblieben
oder bewegen sich die Schatten,
diese Tröster, aus ihren Netzen
bald herab zu uns?




¿Hemos quedado solos
de árbol a árbol,
o descienden de sus redes
pronto hacia nosotros
las sombras, esos consuelos?
Profile Image for Niklas.
57 reviews8 followers
September 15, 2025
Ein schmales Buch und doch ein ganzes Lebenswerk an Gedichten, von denen viele beim Lesen nachhallen, manche mich aber eher fremd zurückgelassen haben.
Profile Image for hope h..
470 reviews99 followers
March 24, 2023
the last night

and what should come to light
if not the snow trails,
swords down the side of childhood,
and by the woods
apple trees' limbs
rinsed black by the moon,
the chickens, all counted.

request

you needn't shield me
from wrathful gods,
from a wrathful God,
for i won't come to you in fear.
the wheels on the white hill turn.
homer is slumped in his corner.
wake him.
wake him for me
with your last laugh
so that i hear you
when i walk among the wheels
and he sings.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews