Malina

About “Malina”

Malina is a 1971 novel by Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann. The story follows a female writer and her relationships with two men, one cheerful and one reserved. The novel explores themes such as gender relations, guilt, mental illness, and the impact of trauma in post-Second World War Vienna. It also examines the process of writing and the tensions between personal and collective experiences. The book was adapted into a 1991 film titled Malina, directed by Werner Schroeter. The screenplay was written by Elfriede Jelinek, a fellow Austrian writer.