Abstract
Although realist fiction developed mainly on the periphery of the Habsburg Monarchy, in drama a qualified realism can be found at the centre in the work of the Viennese popular dramatist Johann Nestroy. Contemporaries compared Nestroy and Dickens; Nestroy adapted a Dickens novel for the stage. A sustained comparison first shows a detailed realist presentation of contemporary life, illustrated by the representation of modern transport. Nestroy also practises a reductive, cynical realism which contrasts with Dickens's tendency to sentimentality and to the idealization of domestic life. But both converge again in their harsh portrayal of social problems and class conflict from the 1840s onwards. Finally, Nestroy's realism can be compared favourably with that of the German 'programmatic realists' illustrated by Freytag's Soll und Haben.
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