Musil Research Unit Archive

MS 1440

1892-1974

Eithne Wilkins, d. 1975, Ernst David Kaiser, 1911-1972

Eithne Wilkins, a New Zealand Germanist translator and poet. After the war Eithne taught at the time as a lecturer at the University of London. She met the Jewish, Austrian Ernst Kaiser, while he was working as a translator in London and they married in 1949. After the war, Eithne and her husband, continued to work as freelance translators and reviewers, with Eithne continuing to use her maiden name for her professional work. Together with her husband she translated books from German into English, including Novels, short stories and poems by Goethe, Kafka, Benn, Feuchtwanger, Wiechert, Kokoschka and Lenz, further letter volumes of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg. They began to interest English literary editors and publishers in Robert Musil and in 1950 Secker & Warburg agreed to publish their translation of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften. At the same time Eithne was awarded a research fellowship at Bedford College London. Their book Robert Musil. Eine Einführung in das Werk was published in 1962. In 1967 Eithne was appointed lecturer at Reading University, where a Musil Research Unit was established. Eithne died in 1975 in Reading.The Jewish Austrian, Ernst Kaiser was born in Vienna in 1911. Ernst grew up in Vienna, passed the Matura, his military service and studied German. Before he could finish his doctorate, the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into the German Reich, took place on 12 March 1938. A few months later Ernst fled to Prague, to Poland and from there by ship to Southampton in 1939 and settled in London, where he found a job in a slaughterhouse. When the war began Ernst was interned then spent almost six years in the British Army as an interpreter at the rank of sergeant. While still in Hamburg he published in 1946 his first book, "Shadow Man", a novella. After the war he lived in London, working as a translator. He met Eithne Wilkins, a New Zealand Germanist translator and poet. She taught at the time as a lecturer at the University of London. Kaiser and Wilkins married in 1949. In 1947 Ernst asked the Bollingen Foundation in New York, for a grant to publish the second part of his novel "The Story of a Murder." Together with his wife he translated books from German into English, including Novels, short stories and poems by Goethe, Kafka, Benn, Feuchtwanger, Wiechert, Kokoschka and Lenz, and further letter volumes of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg. However they are best-known for their translations of several works of Robert Musil, including Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, "The Man Without Qualities", they not only translated, but also edited a new version. They began to interest English literary editors and publishers in Robert Musil and in 1950 Secker & Warburg agreed to publish their translation of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften. From the 1950s, they co-published numerous scientific papers on Musil's work in journals and anthologies, including in 1962, "Robert Musil - An introduction to the work." Eithne Wilkins became a professor at the University of Reading in 1968. Kaiser was appointed Honorary Research Fellow and directed with his wife, the Robert Musil Research Unit at the University. Ernst Kaiser died in 1972 in Reading.

The collection consists of papers of Ernst and Eithne Kaiser from the Musil Research Unit. These fall into two categories: copies of original documents produced by Robert Musil, and working papers of the Kaisers. The Musil material includes copies of correspondence c. 1935-1942; photocopies of Musil's manuscripts, typescripts and notes; typescript versions of Musil notebooks, manuscripts, corrections and drafts; and microfilms of Musil manuscripts. Papers of the Kaisers include correspondence in English, German, Italian and French about translations and editions of Musil's work, exhibitions, critical writing and the Musil papers, c. 1947-1974; cuttings, articles, notes and photographs relating to exhibitions on Musil (Rome 1960, Rome and Klagenfurt 1962, Reading 1973); notes and drafts for articles on Musil, biographical studies, bibliography and critical editions; typescripts and manuscripts of the Kaisers' work on Musil; selected articles published by and about Musil in periodicals, offprints and pamphlets, including work published by the Kaisers; press cuttings about Musil in various European languages 1949-1970; and certificates and reports from Musil's early years 1892-1917. The collection also contains catalogues of the original Musil papers.

35 boxes

EnglishGermanItalianFrench

Musil Research Unit University of Reading, Robert Musil, 1880-1942, Ernst David Kaiser, 1911-1972, Eithne Wilkins, d. 1975

Authors, Austrian, Translators