‘We Didn’t Do Very Well’ by Ingeborg Bachmann

‘We Didn’t Do Very Well’ by Ingeborg Bachmann

The fraught and generative relationship between two postwar literary giants—revealed through a series of letters published for the first time in English.  

Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973) stands among the most vital voices of postwar German literature—an acclaimed poet and prose writer who also reshaped radio drama and opera. In 1958, a letter of admiration from the Swiss novelist Max Frisch (1911–1991), written after hearing Bachmann’s radio play The Good God of Manhattan, led to a meeting in Paris and the beginning of an intense, volatile love affair that would forever leave a mark on both their lives and work. Presented here for the first time in English, 299 letters written between 1958 and 1973 trace the arc of that relationship: long separations, the strain of two writers attempting to share a life, creative rivalry, sexual jealousy, and gendered tensions sharpened by a fifteen-year age gap. The correspondence ranges from everyday logistics to raw psychological insight, from passion and longing to bitterness, silence, and regret. The later letters, written as Bachmann’s health declined, expand to include friends, relatives, and key literary figures. First published in German in 2022, this correspondence overturned long-held myths about the two writers, revealing mutual influence, negotiated freedom, and a struggle to reconcile incompatible needs. Intimate and revelatory, these letters illuminate the fragile intersection of love, power, and creativity.

Ingeborg Bachmann is the author of Darkness Spoken, Malina, and Simultan, among other books. Max Frisch was a giant of twentieth-century German literature, achieving fame as a novelist, playwright, diarist, and essayist. His works include Andorra and Man in the Holocene. Chantal Wright is a literary translator from German and French into English, the author of Literary Translation, and Professor of Creativity and the Language Industry at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Simon Pare is a translator from French and German living near Zurich.