Mein Leben sieht genauso
aus wie ich
('My life looks just like I do')
Mela Hartwig was born in Vienna in 1893; however, the importance of her works in literary history terms has only been fully appreciated recently on the strength of reissues of her works. These also include the novella Aufzeichnungen einer Hässlichen in the volume Verbrechen, which was initially published under the title Ekstasen in 1928. The collection of stories in this volume are expressionist, hysterical, cruel, hopeless – in short, ecstatic.
Hartwig was initially a successful actress who performed at several theatres in Austria, and also at the Schiller Theater in Berlin. Alfred Döblin and Stefan Zweig encouraged her to write, and her career as an author began in the late 1920s with the publication of her post-expressionist short stories, which explored the emotions of women who also wanted to 'have a fate' to excess. In 1938, after the annexation of Austria and the appropriation of her property by the Nazis due to her Jewish origins, Mela Hartwig went into exile and emigrated to London with her husband, the lawyer Robert Spira, where she lived until her death in 1967.
Caroline Peters is a member of the Berliner Schaubühne company and the company of the Burgtheater in Vienna, and as at home on the great stages of the German-speaking countries as she is on the small and the big screen. Last summer, she played the Paramour in Everyman at the Salzburg Festival. She has won Austria's Nestroy theatre prize and has been voted actress of the year twice. Her role as the inspector in the TV series Mord mit Aussicht has made her widely-known to television audiences. Her most recent films include How About Adolf? and the upcoming Die Unschärferelation der Liebe.
