Jared Loehrmann and Dr. Michelle Stott James, Germanic and Slavic Department
Der Schatten, a drama written by Marie Eugenie delle Grazie (1864-1931) premiered in 1901 in the Vienna Burgtheater, the most prestigious stage at the time. Der Schatten is a rich play full of topics that are significant for fin-de-siècle Vienna. These contemporary themes include aspects such as psychology, art, and human relationships, with which delle Grazie contributes unique insights to the ongoing discourse at the time. Although the author received the prominent Bauernfeldpreis award, which was also given to other leading authors like Hermann Hesse und Arthur Schnitzler, who are still well known today, she has been largely forgotten. Reasons for this negligence of delle Grazie and her drama are that Der Schatten was published only for a German speaking audience, and that historically, the works of women tended to be forgotten after the lifetime of the author. My goal was to show the importance of this text, and thereby direct literary attention to it. I visited Vienna to do additional research, and then write a commentary on Der Schatten.
In preparation for my research trip to Vienna, I gathered all the secondary literature I could find in the United States, and contacted the former general secretary of the Burgtheater Johan Wondra. Through him I received the names and contact information for several people to support me in my endeavor while I was in Europe. In addition, I prepared a paper on delle Grazie’s drama, and then presented it at the SISSI (Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery) Conference in Colorado Springs, CO. This experience, together with the feedback from the conference attendees, helped me to identify areas that needed to be researched more in depth. The overall positive reception of my article also encouraged me in my objective to direct literary attention to the value of delle Grazie’s drama.
Upon my arrival in Vienna, however, my excitement was quickly dampened because librarians, archive workers, and university employees assured me that I would not be able to find much information about the author, and even less about her drama. My first attempts did not render the hoped for success. Works that contained information about the author and in particular, about her play, were not only sparse, but also in many cases the same as those I found while still in Provo. The adversity, however, seemed to motivate me even more. Since most of my findings were biographies that made little or no mention of Der Schatten, I decided to find the books and article that the biographies referenced when reviewing the drama. From there I went back farther and farther in time, and was finally led to journals and newspapers contemporary with the author.
Despite this partial success, my research was like finding a needle in a haystack. When I was looking through rolls and rolls of microfilm though, I learned quickly where to look, and began to retrieve a few newspaper reviews on the play. Furthermore, I dug up articles in journals by looking through all references made to the author or the play in even the smallest publication. Another setback was that the archives and libraries that contained information on my research topic were across town from each other, which meant a lot of going back and forth, similar to a scavenger hunt.
In the end, it was a rewarding feeling to show off my pile of photocopied research materials to my critics. One archive worker was particularly impressed not only by my findings, but also by my perseverance. Since I had only two and a half weeks in Vienna, I continued my research in Germany. Some of the books I requested through their interlibrary loan system, however, did not make it to me in time. Somewhat disappointed on this setback, I traveled back to Utah, where I presented an annotated bibliography together with a report on my experience to my mentor Dr. James. She encouraged me to try and obtain the books from Germany through BYU’s interlibrary loan system. Through BYU I was indeed able to receive at least photocopies of the books in questions.
Since then I have revised another article , which was accepted for publication in the Sophie Journal, and wrote a semester paper , which will serve as a chapter of my Masters Thesis. The afore mentioned semester paper has piqued the interest of two of my German professors, who now want to read delle Grazie’s drama. In a way, I have already started to create more literary discussion and interest for Der Schatten, which discourse I hope to continue and to invigorate further through my forthcoming Master Thesis in Fall 2008.