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July 8, 2025 
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| The New York Times |
Dear readers,
I’ve recently discovered the Austrian novelist Marlen Haushofer (1920-70), who wrote slim, nervy books about women floundering in psychological eddies. If your idea of a beach read involves a narrator on a craggy precipice, today’s newsletter is dedicated to you.
A new translation of Haushofer’s book “Killing Stella” comes out today. The story is recounted by a housewife left alone at home for two days, working to absolve herself of guilt about the fate of her former teenage charge, Stella. Stella lived with the narrator and her family for a stretch, upending the careful balance of the household, before she was crushed by a truck — as a parting gesture, the narrator writes, Stella had the highly “considerate” sense to make it look like an accident.
“I have to write about her before I begin to forget her,” the narrator says of Stella. “Because I’ll have to forget her if I want to resume my old peaceful life.”
Technically the truck dealt Stella her fatal blow, but the responsibility for her death is a communal affair. The book's original title in German, “Wir töten Stella,” has previously been translated as “We Murder Stella.” Fellow translation geeks — assemble! This latest version, translated by Shaun Whiteside, is full of elegant, surprising turns of phrase. I was engrossed for all of the story’s 88 pages — the perfect length for a languorous, soupy beach day.
In a recent piece for the Book Review, the author Peter C. Baker wisely notes that Haushofer is “a writer of traps, not escapes.” This observation shouldn’t make you squirm or seek out the closest exit — it’s a sign of a writer to whom the best thing you can do is submit.
See you on Friday.
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