Maria Janitscheknée Tölk (July 22, 1859 in Mödling (near Vienna) - April 28, 1927 in Munich) was a German writer of Austrian origin. She wrote under the pseudonym of Marius Stein.
Life
Born the illegitimate child of a military officer, she was raised by her mother Anna Tölk in impoverished circumstances and educated in a Hungarian convent school. When she was 19, she moved with her mother to Graz where she published her first articles as a journalist under the pseudonym Marius Stein. The newspapers Moderne Dichtung and Wiener Rundschau numbered among her employers. At age 23 she married Hubert Janitschek, a professor of art history. The couple lived in Strassburg and Leipzig. Her husband died in 1893 and Maria moved to Berlin and later to Munich.
Work
Her first published books were collections of poetry and short stories. These appealed to the interests of the bourgeois women's movement in the topics of their works: the problems of marriage and love for women, treated in a manner that at the time was very liberal. In 1889 she published her first volume of poems Irdische und unirdische Träume (Earthly and Unearthly Dreams), which included the highly criticized poem "Ein modernes Weib" (A Modern Wife). Germany banned her short story collection Die neue Eva in 1909. She considered Émile Zola, Henrik Ibsen, and Leo Tolstoy to be her role models. Her works often have strong female characters who become merciless avengers when wrongs are done to them. In her epic works, she explored the dualism between the sensible and the emotional side of people.
Selected writings
Legenden und Geschichten, ? 1885
Irdische und unirdische Träume, ? 1889
Atlas, Novella, Berlin 1893
Buch der Freiheit, Anthology, Ed Karl Henckell (later included in Texte von Maria Janitschek), Berlin 1893
Im Sommerwind, poem, Leipzig 1895
Ninive, Novel, Leipzig 1896
Vom Weibe - Charakterzeichnungen, Berlin 1896
Der Schleifstein - ein Lebensbild, Leipzig 1896
Sonnenblumen, Anthology, Ed. Karl Henckell (later included in Texte von Maria Janitschek), Stuttgart 1896
Gelandet, Leipzig 1897
Kreuzfahrer, Short Story, Leipzig 1897
Die Amazonenschlacht, Novel, Leipzig 1897
Ueberm Thal in: Nord und Süd - Eine deutsche Monatsschrift, Ed. Paul Lindau, Breslau 1898, Vol. 84
Mimikry - Ein Stück modernes Leben, Novel, Leipzig 1903
Esclarmonde - Ihr Lieben und Leiden, Stuttgart 1906
Eine Liebesnacht, Novel, ? 1908
Lustige Ehen - eine Geschichte, in der sich alle kriegen, Leipzig 1910
Olympier überm Tal, Two Novellas, (Deutsche Volkskultur in Wort, Bild und Klang #5) Berlin ca. 1910
Die Sterne des Herrn Ezelin, Novel, Leipzig 1915
Der rote Teufel, Novel, Leipzig 1916
Wildes Blut, Berlin 1916
Im Finstern, Novel, Leipzig ca. 1920
Kinder der Puszta, Novel, ? 1920
Saat und Ernte - Die deutsche Lyrik um 1925, in Selbstauswahlen der Dichter und Dichterinnen (Maria Janitschek), mit kurzen Eigenbiographien und Angabe ihrer Werke, Ed. Albert Sergel, Berlin/Vienna 1924
Bibliography
Petra Budke and Jutta Schulze: Schriftstellerinnen in Berlin 1871 - 1945. Ein Lexikon zu Leben und Werk. Orlanda Frauenverlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN3-929823-22-5.
Theresia Klugsberger and Sigrid Schmid-Bortenschlager: Wider die Eindeutigkeit. Maria Janitschek. In: Karin Tebben (Ed): Deutschsprachige Schriftstellerinnen des Fin de siècle. Diss. Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN3-534-14484-8, P. 181-196.
External links
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