Wilhelm Muster
Wilhelm Muster (pseudonym: Ulrich Hassler), born on 12.10.1916 in Graz, died on 26.1.1994 ibid. The son of a customs guard spent most of his childhood and youth in Mureck (Styria), transferred to a secondary school in Wiener Neustadt in 1927 (graduated in 1935). In addition to a wide range of studies at the University of Graz, he was an assistant director at the Graz Opera and studied acting with director Karl Drews, who was later executed. He then worked on various stages, but then shifted to teaching (1941 teacher training examination at the Graz Teacher Training College). He was briefly drafted, but was soon discharged as unfit. He continued his studies in Graz and obtained his doctorate in 1947 with the thesis Der Schamanismus in der Saga, im deutschen Brauch, Märchen und Glauben.
After various occasional jobs in Graz, Muster went to Spain in 1952 and worked as a lecturer at the University of Madrid. From 1960, the year of publication of his first novel Aller Nächte Tag (under the pseudonym Ulrich Hassler), he lived in Ibiza for two years - during this time he wrote rough versions of other novels and numerous translations from Spanish. In 1962, he returned from his "second home" to Graz, followed by extensive travels, including to the Sahara and Israel. From 1965 to 1978 he was a lecturer in Spanish at the University of Graz. He has published novels such as Der Tod kommt ohne Trommel (1980), Pulverland (1986) and Auf den Spuren der Kuskusesser (1993) as well as short stories (e.g. Sieger und Besiegte, 1989). Muster's singular play with myths (both ancient and Habsburg) corresponds with the use of postmodern techniques such as the dissolution of binding contexts into individual atoms and the thematization or destruction of the narrator or the narrative.
Estate
Size: 40 archive boxes
Contents:
Works, correspondence, life documents, collections.
14 archive boxes with autograph and typescript versions of the works and translations with notes and research material
4 archive boxes with correspondence with just over 100 correspondence partners (including Walter Kappacher, Kurt Klinger, Peter Marginter, Hermann Schreiber, Ramón J. Sender, Hans Weigel, Josef Weinheber) and 3 archive boxes with publishing correspondence
3 archive boxes with life documents (including photos)
16 archive boxes with collections (newspaper articles, copies, excerpts, laudations, reviews, lecture notes).
Degree of processing: The collection is finely indexed, a detailed index is available.
Call number: FNI-MUSTER
Acquisition: Purchase of individual manuscripts in 1989 and donation in 1997
Walter Grünzweig Collection
Scope: 1 archive box
Contents: Works, correspondence, life documents, collections.
Copies of works by Wilhelm Muster, correspondence from and to Muster, collections of newspaper clippings and on the Franz Nabl Prize 1992
Degree of processing: The collection is roughly indexed, an overview of contents is available.
Acquisition: Donation 2022 and 2023
Call number: FNI-MUSTER (SLG. GRÜNZWEIG)