Ingeborg Bachmann’s Utopia and Disillusionment

In this study Leena Eilittä analyses Bachmann's work via two key concepts - 'utopia' and 'disillusionment' - which allow her to locate Bachmann's thinking in the post war critical discourse in Germany. Already in her early works Bachmann turns to the idea of utopianism as a possibility to cope with the problems of past heritage and with those of contemporary society. It is this utopian perscpective that allows her to address the position of a woman in critical terms and to make reflections about a more equal society in the major body of her writings.