'So schön war es im Roten Wien'. Britische Schriftsteller über das Wien der frühen Dreißigerjahre und die Februarereignisse 1934. (Austrian Studies in English 94) by Monika Seidl

Abstract

Reviews with each essay. Despite these editorial irritations, however, the volume has some real gems to offer, such as the excellent opening essay by Christoph Konrad, 'Das brennende Recht' (pp. 13-25), which examines the history of trial by jury inAustria and the sociology of the law establishment, all within the context of the revision of the Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz.Ernst Bruckm?ller 's 'Die Gewalt der Angst. Lager- und Klassenbildung' (pp. 27-40) sets the political scene, and although ithas little in theway of new material to offer, isa good general survey of the origins and escalation of political extremism in the period. Generally speaking, Doderer and Canetti receive more attention than Sperber, whose ideas tend tobe sprinkled somewhat wilfully throughout themore political essays. The exception to this is Mrijana Stancic's, 'Kann Demokratie sch?n sein?' (pp. 103-11), which provides a highly interesting analysis of an unpublished 1983 speech Sperber never actually made but fails to establish a strong link to the influence of the fire on his works. Doderer, by contrast, is the subject of several detailed and thought-provoking contributions, such as Dieter A. Binder's study of 'Die "D?monen der Ostmark" ' (pp. 55-69), inwhich he examines the tensions between tradition and innovation inpost-Habsburg Austria, and Martin Loew-Cadonna's and Gerald Sommer 's commentaries on Die D?monen. In 'Das Feuer der Masse' (pp. 91-100), Wolfgang M?ller-Funk manages to combine an impressively concise outline of Canetti 's reaction to the firewith pointed cultural criticism of his phenomenology of the masses and its subsequent (mis) use. Canetti isalso given his due in Sven Hanuschek's excellently informed contribution (pp. 143-50), although this is taken almost in its entirety from Hanuschek's 2005 biography (an unacknowledged duplication) and thus is nothing new. The volume's variety results from the contributors' wide range of professional backgrounds. Some are primarily political figures, and their policies loom large in their essays. This is particularly striking inMadeleine Petrovic's essay, and positively obtrusive in Erhard Busek's contribution, effectively an appeal for the European integration of the Balkans. For an ostensibly academic volume, political allegiance also features unusually clearly in the brief contributor curricula provided. These reveal a bias towards theAustrian People's Party with the odd Green Party member ? a reflection of the dashed hopes for a Black/ Green coalition in theOctober 2006 Austrian general election? Ludwig Boltzmann Institut, Vienna Deborah Holmes 'So sch?n war es im Roten Wien'. Bntische Schriftsteller?ber das Wien derfr?hen Drei?igerjahre und die Februarereignisse 1934. By Monika Seidl. (Austrian Studies inEnglish 94). Vienna: Braum?ller. 2006. vi + 262 pp. 26,90. isbn 978~3-^'003-1565-0. The quotation inMonika Seidl's title is taken from Naomi Mitchison's Vienna Diary of 1934 and itsdouble edge ? appreciation and irony ? nicely takes us to the heart of her thesis on British writers' engagement with Vienna in the 1930s. Seidl asks what brought such writers toVienna ? the unique qualities AUSTRIAN STUDIES I5, 2OO7 *99 of the city itself, the idea of Vienna as a metaphor or symbol for particular political viewpoints, or a romanticized view of one of the key localities of European Socialism? She concludes that, however good their intentions, most of the British outsiders who came toAustria during that exciting but troubled period remained at a disabling distance from the subject of their interest and enthusiasms and that theirworks lack persuasiveness and conviction. Seidl begins with a survey of political literature in 1930s Britain, which she carefully distils into an assessment of the predominant ideology of the so-called 'Auden Group' of writers. Stephen Spender's self-image as a writer is taken as a useful case-study for the presentation of how that generation understood the relationship of literature, sociology and politics. A central section isdevoted to detailed readings of individual works by a variety of authors who locate their work inVienna in or around the year 1934. It startswith Spender again, looking at the long poem 'Vienna', his short story 'Two Deaths', the retrospective verse 'sketches' entitled 'Returning to Vienna 1947' and the poem 'Ice', written in 1936 but revised in 1985. John...