Donald Daviau: September 30, 1927–April 27, 2019

Donald Daviau, who edited this journal under its former title, Modern Austrian Literature, over an incredible three-decade span from 1971 to 1999, passed away in April 2019, just as this issue was in copyediting. While we came on board too late to have had the opportunity to get to know Don personally, we have admired his expert stewardship of this journal over such a long period and often return to the special issues he edited in order to read his introductions, which mark milestones in Austrian Studies in North America. The following Nachruf comes from someone who did know him well. We are grateful to Paul F. Dvorak for writing this for us on very short notice so that we could keep to the publication schedule that we are sure this journal’s longest-serving editor would want us to maintain.

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Professor Donald G. Daviau, perhaps the most influential American scholar responsible for establishing Austrian literature as a distinct specialty within the broader field of German literature in the United States, passed away on April 27, 2019, in Kirchberg am Wechsel in Austria at the age of 91. His long and illustrious career spanned the mid-twentieth century to the most recent past.

Professor Daviau, or Don as he was best known to his many colleagues and friends, was born on September 30, 1927, in Worcester, Massachusetts. With the aid of the GI Bill following his service in the US Navy, he earned a BA in German at Clark University followed by his MA and PhD at the University of California at Berkeley in 1954–55. Preceding the completion of his doctorate with a dissertation on Hermann Bahr, he spent a year at the University of Vienna as a Fulbright student. He then joined the faculty at the University of California at Riverside, where over the years he became professor, department chair, and eventually professor emeritus. Following his retirement from the university in 1998, Don shared his time between homes in Moreno Valley, California, and Kirchberg with his wife, Dr. Gertraud Steiner Daviau, while continuing to maintain a rigorous scholarly life. Until very late in his life, he continued to organize and attend conferences, research, write, and edit multiple books and articles.

In 1955, Don founded the International Arthur Schnitzler Research Association and served as its president; he was also editor of the literary journal Modern Austrian Literature from 1971 to 1999. For many years was the president of the American Council for the Study of Austrian Literature, of which he was a founder. Perhaps most significant, and a crowning contribution according to his wife as well, were the annual symposia on Austrian literature held at UC Riverside between 1983 and 1999. Organized by Don with Jorun B. Johns, these conferences were based on a different theme each year. Remembered fondly by many participants, these conferences brought together both younger and well-established scholars from the United States, Austria, and other countries. The conferences included readings by contemporary Austrian authors, current Austrian films, and speeches by prominent Austrians and representatives of Austrian government agencies. Many of the papers presented were subsequently published in the journal Modern Austrian Literature. The legacy of the Riverside efforts has been carried forward under new leadership, first as MALCA (the Modern Austrian Literature and Culture Association) from 2000 to 2012 and from that year to the present as the Austrian Studies Association. The affiliated journal is the present Journal of Austrian Studies. For me personally and for so many other scholars interested in Austria, the symposia provided a unique opportunity to interact with each other as well as with the annual parade of contemporary Austrian authors who attended and read from their works.

In addition to his own many articles, reference book contributions, presentations, and books, Don contributed greatly to the study of Austrian literature and culture by affording other scholars opportunities to network, present papers, engage in discussion, publish peer-reviewed articles, and author translations and scholarly books in the Ariadne Press, of which Don was editor, along with Jorun B. Johns, from 1985 to 1999...