Max Burckhard, haut fonctionnaire et littérateur, directeur du Burgtheater de 1890 à 1898

Abstract

This article is meant to initiate further consideration of the links between the various aspects of Max Burckhard’s personality. Among the various occupations which he held — namely magistrate, jurist, high ranking civil servant, writer, journalist, publisher — the most outstanding was that of director of the “Burgheater”. His stance as a champion of modernity inside a traditional institution is a reflection of the position of Austria at that time, stuck in the middle of insoluble conflicts as it was. In his very extensive written work, which deals mainly with Law and Theatre, and also with social and political issues, he appears to be a progressive intellectual, clearly taking sides with the feeble and weak but refusing to claim a political position. Although he was a civil servant on several occasions, he considered the State as a devise meant for oppression. As a playwright and novel writer he was a satirical observer of his times, but his view remained exclusively anecdotal.