Martin Walser leaves his work to Literaturarchiv

In the future, Martin Walser’s works will be stored, cataloged and researched at the German Literature Archive (DLA) in Marbach. The 95-year-old German writer (“A Fleeing Horse”, “A Dying Man”) officially left his legacy to the institution in Schillerhöhe on the banks of the Neckar River yesterday.

In addition to the drafts and manuscripts of his narrative, dramatic, and essay works, which have survived nearly without flaw, there are also 75 diaries that Walser has kept since the 1950s, according to the DLA. These have so far only been partially released, they are considered an essential resource for life and work.

Also 75,000 handwritten pages

For DLA Director Sandra Richter, the Walser Archive is “the complete fortune of the author’s life spanning more than 60 years.” On the occasion of the handover, Richter said that the writer from Oberlingen on Lake Constance is a combat historian of the Federal Republic and its society, and his documents are a very unusual source for literary and contemporary history.

According to the Literary Archive, the acquired will consisted of about 75,000 handwritten pages, including correspondence with Alfred Andersch, Rudolf Augustin, Ingeborg Bachmann, Heinrich Böll, Jürgen Habermas, Uwe Johnson, and publisher Siegfried Anseld. In addition, Walser’s working and working library has more than 7,800 folders as well as pictures and computer files. One speaks of a legacy, as in this case, when archival material is made available during one’s life.