Home >> Austrian Studies, Volume 16, Number 1

Austrian Literature and the Coffee-House before 1890

Author: Carr, Gilbert J.

Source: Austrian Studies, Volume 16, Number 1, 1 December 2008 , pp. 154-171(18)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

The temporal and spatial patterns and discourses of the Viennese coffee-house were under-developed in realist fiction between 1867 and 1890, which instead reflected the social importance of salons or castigated the clientèle of taverns. Only Alfred Meissner's political novel reasserts the ideal of intellectual coffee-house exchange, which both Friedrich Schlögl and Daniel Spitzer debunk. Theodor Herzl uses the confinement of a café milieu to unmask the utopian aims of its bohémiens. The playful dialogue of Arthur Schnitzler's literati opens up narrative structure dialectically. Petr Bezruč's sketch of `the cafés of Prague' is an exemplary narrative shaping of the complexity of coffee-house discourse.

German
Die Zeit- und Raumstrukturen und Diskurse des Wiener Kaffeehauses blieben in der realistischen Erzählliteratur 1867-1890, die die gesellschaftliche Bedeutung des Salons hervorhob oder die Gäste der Wirtshäuser geißelte, weitgehend unerschlossen. Lediglich Alfred Meissners politischer Roman erhebt den geistigen Austausch im Kaffeehause zum Ideal, das Friedrich Schlögl sowie Daniel Spitzer verspotten. Theodor Herzl veranschaulicht die Enge des Kaffeehausmilieus, um die utopischen Ziele der bohémiens zu entlarven. Aus dem spielerischen Dialog der Literaten schafft Arthur Schnitzler eine dialektisch offene Erzählstruktur. Exemplarisch für die erzählerische Gestaltung der Komplexität des Kaffeehausdiskurses ist Petr Bezrucč' Skizze der `Prager Cafés'.
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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