Marianne Fritz

Marianne Fritz (14 December 1948 – 1 October 2007) was an Austrian writer and novelist. She is known for her multi-volume series of novels dealing with the history of Austria in the twentieth century. Her work is also noted for its experimental nature and extraordinary length. Her first novel, the 1978 The Weight of Things was awarded that year's Robert Walser Prize.

Early life Marianne Fritz was born in Weiz, a municipality in Styria, Austria. This project was based on the history of the First and Second Austrian Republics. She would work on it for the rest of her life.

She published her second novel and the first volume of this project in 1980 as Das Kind der Gewalt und die Sterne der Romani (The Child of Violence and the Stars of the Romani). This complex novel sold poorly, leading her publisher to drop her.

She next published Dessen Sprache du nicht verstehst (Whose Language You Do Not Understand) in 1986. The 3,300-plus page novel was noted for its complexity and linguistic experimentation. The work was received with mostly hostile reviews at the time.

She continued to push the linguistic boundaries of German with the publication in the 1990s of two additional volumes of Die Festung under the names Naturgemäß I and II.

Death and legacy Marianne Fritz died in 2007 in Vienna at the age of 58 after a serious blood infection. At the time of her death, she left behind an unfinished draft for Naturgemäß III.

In November 2014, a park was named in her honor in Wien-Neubau.