A rare stroke of luck for literary studies: in 2023, as a result of a TV report by ORF Lower Austrian public broadcaster ORF Niederösterreich, a previously unknown collection of correspondence by British-American poet W. H. Auden (1907–1973) was discovered. The outstanding find offers new insights into the life, work, and personal relationships of one of the most influential English-language writers of the 20th century.

From TV Interview to Archival Treasure

In the context of the 50th anniversary of Auden’s death, Helmut Neundlinger, head of the Archive of Contemporary Arts in Krems and curator of the Auden Museum in Kirchstetten, appeared on television to speak about the poet. During the interview, he casually mentioned a certain "Hugo," a Viennese "callboy" whom Auden knew in the 1960s and to whom he dedicated a poem that would remain unpublished during the poet’s lifetime.

Shortly afterward, a woman contacted ORF, stating that she had personally known Hugo and his wife. As their sole heir, she was in possession of an extensive correspondence – around 100 letters and postcards sent by W. H. Auden – whose existence had been completely unknown. She donated the collection to the State Collections of Lower Austria. Today, it is housed by the Archive of Contemporary Arts.

A Biographical Footnote Takes Shape

“That this material has survived at all is a stroke of luck,” says literary historian Sandra Mayer. Together with Timo Frühwirth, she is researching and digitising the letters at the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW). As part of the research project Auden in Austria Digital, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the documents are being researched and made publicly accessible.

In established Auden biographies, Hugo has barely been more than an odd footnote, but now given new significance by the unexpectedly surfaced collection. The roughly ten-year correspondence between Auden and Hugo – from the early 1960s into the 1970s – reveals a surprisingly close and respectful relationship between the world-renowned poet from overseas and a man from Vienna’s working-class milieu. “What’s exciting for us is the candid tone and the wide range of topics,” says Timo Frühwirth. “Auden doesn’t write to Hugo from a position of superiority, but in a tone shaped by intimacy, trust, and mutual respect.”

New Perspectives on Queer History

The letters to Hugo open not only literary, but also sociocultural perspectives. In the 1960s, homosexuality was still a criminal offence in Austria, and especially in rural areas, a restrictive climate prevailed. Together with Andreas Brunner, academic director of the QWIEN – Vienna Center for Queer History, the documents are also being studied in this context. “This material could provide new approaches not only for international Auden scholarship,” says Mayer, “but also for continued academic engagement with this facet of Austrian post-1945 history.”

W. H. Auden – A Global Literary Figure at Hinterholz 6

Born in York in 1907, Auden is regarded as one of the most important poets of the 20th century. In the 1950s, he found a retreat from the hustle and bustle of New York City in Kirchstetten, Lower Austria, where he wrote large parts of his later work. Despite this, Auden remained largely unknown to the broader Austrian public for a long time – unlike in the US or the UK.

The comprehensive digital edition and scholarly investigation of Austrian archival holdings in the context of the OeAW project Auden in Austria Digital aim to establish Auden as part of Austrian literary history.