Author: Liebscher, Martin

Source: Austrian Studies, Volume 16, Number 1, 1 December 2008 , pp. 32-50(19)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

Abstract:

This article examines the reception of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy amongst a group of students in Vienna in the 1870s: the so-called `Pernerstorfer Circle'. The members of this group - gathered around Victor Adler and Engelbert Pernerstorfer - shared German nationalist and anti-Liberal ideals and admired the ideas of Richard Wagner and Arthur Schopenhauer. Using hitherto unknown archival material, the article looks at the role of Victor Adler - the future founder of the Austrian Social Democratic Party - in the promulgation of Nietzsche's early philosophy among his fellow students and argues that Nietzsche's importance to Adler and the rest of the Pernerstorfer Circle was mainly as a mouthpiece for Wagnerian beliefs.

German
In diesem Aufsatz wird die Nietzscherezeption innerhalb einer Gruppe von Wiener Studenten, dem sogenannten Pernerstorfer Kreis, in den 1870er Jahren untersucht. Die Mitglieder, die sich rund um Victor Adler und Engelbert Pernerstorfer scharrten, vertraten deutschnationales und antiliberales Gedankengut und bewunderten die Ideen von Richard Wagner und Arthur Schopenhauer. Unter Verwendung bisher unbekannten Archivmaterials wird die Bedeutung, die Nietzsches frühe Philosophie für Victor Adler, den späteren Gründer der Sozialdemokratischen Arbeiterpartei, in dieser Zeit spielte, beleuchtet. Es zeigt sich dabei, dass Nietzsche für Adler und die übrigen Pernerstorfer vor allem die Funktion eines Sprachrohrs für die Ideologie Wagners eingenommen hat.

Keywords: Reception of Friedrich Nietzsche; Pernerstorfer Circle; Victor Adler; Engelbert Pernerstorfer; Richard Wagner; Arthur Schopenhauer; Social Democratic Party; Nietzscherezeption; Pernerstorfer Kreis; Victor Adler; Engelbert Pernerstorfer; Richard Wagner; Arthur Schopenhauer; Sozialdemokratischen Arbeiterpartei

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London

Publication date: 2008-12-01

More about this publication?

• Austrian Studies is an annual journal reflecting sustained interest in the distinctive cultural traditions of the Habsburg Empire and the Austrian Republic. By publishing a wide range of articles in English, together with a selection of book reviews, it aims to make recent research accessible to a broadly based international readership.
  
  The focus is on Austrian culture from 1750 to the present. Literature is considered in relation to psychology, philosophy, political theory, music, theatre, film, and the visual arts. 'Austrian' includes German-language culture of former areas of the Habsburg Empire, such as Prague and the Bukovina, as well as the work of people of Austrian origin living abroad. Austrian interactions with other linguistic and ethnic groups -- the Jewish communities of Austria-Hungary, for example -- are also taken into account.
  
  Each volume of Austrian Studies has a coherent but broadly conceived theme, and reviews of the most important recent publications in the field of Austrian studies. Each volume also includes a number of substantial review essays devoted either to keeping readers up to date with major cultural debates and events, or to areas of scholarship in which activity has been particularly intense.

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