Marie von Ebner Eschenbach Biography

Dromo's Den

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach Biography

EBNER-ESCHENBACH, Marie, Baroness von (1830-1916). A distinguished Austrian novelist. Born at Castle Zdislawitz, Moravia, her maiden title being Countess Dubsky, she married, in 1848, an Austrian officer, who died in 1898. She lived alternately at her birthplace and in Vienna. Her first publications are dramas now unimportant. Her fiction, which attracted immediate attention, begins with Erzählungen (1875). This was followed by: Bozena (1876); Neue Erzählungen (1878); Dorf- und Schlossgeschichten (1884); Zwei Comtessen (1885; Eng. trans.); Neue Dorf- und Schlossgeschichten (1886); Das Gemeindekind (1887; Eng. trans.); Lotti die Uhrmacherin (1889); Ein kleiner Roman (1889); Miterlebtes (1890); Unsühnbar (1890; Eng. trans.); Margarete (1891); Drei Novellen (1892); Glaubenslos (1893) ; Das Sehädliche and Die Totenwacht (1894); Rittmeister Brand and Bertram Vogelweid (1896); Alte Schule (1897); Aus Spätherbsttagen (1901); Agave (1903); Die arme Kleine (1904); Die unsiegbare Macht (1905); Meine Kinderjahre (1906); Ein Buch für die Jugend (1907); Volksbuch (1909); Altweibersommer (1909); Genrebilder (1910). Among her dramatic works are: Dr. Ritter (1872); Ohne Liebe (1891); Am Ende (1897). She wrote also a popular collection of Aphorismen (1880) and verses collected as Parabeln, Märchen and Gedichte (1892). Her collected works were published in 1893-1911. Her work is distinguished for its power of description, its psychological insight, its humor, wit, and polished precision of style. Her sense of proportion in novelistic construction has also been highly praised. For her biography, consult Necker (Berlin 1900) and Bettelheim (ib. 1900).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 432.