manuskripte
Die Exhumierung “Hödlmosers”
Eine literarchäologische Dokufiktion inkl. rituellem Brettljausnessen (The Exhumation of Hödlmoser: A Literarcheological Docufiction Incl. a Ritual Cold Platter)

In 1973, Reinhard P. Gruber published Aus dem Leben Hödlmosers (From the Life of Hödlmoser), a novel that quickly became a classic of anti-Heimat literature and whose protagonist became an icon of everything Styrian. It may have been this appropriation that prompted Gruber to bury the original manuscript along with grave furnishings on the Zirbitzkogel in 1985. At the funeral, performed with sculptor Gero Schwanberg, the author spoke the following words: “Here … we permanently dispose of this radioactive and TV-active fissile material.”

Gruber believed that with this, the “fission” of Styrian society had found a safe “waste repository,” but the current situation indicates that “fissile material” may have escaped. For safety reasons, manuskripte and a team of literature and archaeology experts are therefore excavating the ur-Hödlmoser. This act is meant to overcome social division and polarization.