Imma von Bodmershof, whose work represents a continuation of the Austrian narrative tradition in the manner of the nineteenth-century writer Adalbert Stifter, achieved belated recognition after World War II. Her fiction owes much of its appeal to her close observation of nature and to her psychological insights. Its metaphysical content is expressed in images and symbols from nature, depicted in vivid language that often takes on poetic rhythms and could be considered poetry in prose. She became a member of the P.E.N. Club in 1950 and received her first major official distinction with the awarding of the Great Austrian State Prize for Literature in 1958. Further honors include the Culture Prize of Lower Austria in 1965 and the Prize of the City of Vienna and the Cross of Honor for Art and Science (First Class) in 1969.

Imma von Ehrenfels was born on 10 August 1895 in Graz, but she always felt...