Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture

Posted on 23 January 2017 by Carl E. Schorske

A landmark book from one of the original scholars of our time a magnificent revelation of turn of the century Vienna where out of a crisis of political social disintegration so much of modern art thought was born Not only is it a splendid exploration of several aspects of early modernism in their political context it is an indicator of how the discipline of intellectual history is currently practiced by its most able ambitious craftsmen It is also a moving vindication of historical study itself, in the face of modernism s defiant suggestion that history is obsolete David A Hollinger, History Book Club Review Each of 7 separate studies can be read separatelyYet they are so artfully designed integrated that one who reads them in order is impressed by the book s wholeness the momentum of its argument Gordon A Craig, The New Republic A profound workon one of the most important chapters of modern intellectual history H.R Trevor Roper, NY Times Book Review Invaluable to the social political historianas well as to those concerned with the arts John Willett, NY Review of Books A work of original synthesis scholarship Engrossing NewsweekThis edition contains IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPolitics the psyche Schnitzler HoffmannsthalThe Ringstrasse, its critics the birth of urban modernismPolitics in a new key an Austrian trioPolitics patricide in Freud s Interpretation of dreamsGustav Klimt painting the crisis of the liberal egoThe transformation of the garden Explosion in the garden Kokoschka SchoenbergIndex New Read [ Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture ] by [ Carl E. Schorske ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This readslike a collection of topical essays than a book because, in fact, it was precisely that The chapters were written as individual studies, not all at the same time, and later compiled into this book As a result it is not always intellectually smooth, but many of the chapters are brilliant and Schorske has unusually vivid prose for an academic In the twentieth century Europe tried to assert independence from its past, self defining Modern as the antithesis of ancient in t This readslike a collection of topical essays than a book because, in fact, it was precisely that The chapters were written as individual studies, not all at the same time, and later compiled into this book As a result it is not always intellectually smooth, but many of the chapters are brilliant and Schorske has unusually vivid prose for an academic I...I found this book quite off putting, and though the author is enormously learned, I feel the book is somewhat overrated I ended up skimming vast tracts of it hence the category i get the picture instead of read and this, after several failed attempts even at starting it.Part of the problem is me I know very little about this period as fascinating as it obviously is and have had difficulty reading the few literary works I ve tried though that clearly is something I plan to contin I found this book quite off putting, and though the author is enormously learned, I feel the book is somewhat overrated I ended up skimming vast tracts of it hence the category i get the picture instead of read and this, after several failed attempts even at starting it.Part of the problem is me I know very little about this period as fascinating as it obviously is and have had difficulty reading...gustav klimt haunts my dreams in the moistest of ways.Books like these tend to fail, and fail quite badly Fusing politics, art and history without overplaying one of the areas, superficially brushing over another or stitching together a flavorless vignette of second rate ideas is surprisingly hard to do And yet Schorske succeeds quite nicely and in eight related but...I keep on coming back to this book as source of my fascination with the birth of Modernism Schorske s book is a series of interconnected essays that can be read as stand alone essays, though best if r...I don t yet know what to make of this book, except that I loved it I m going to have to think about it a bit .I read this as part of the Literary Cityscapes course Fin De Siecle Vienna in The Basic Program at the U of C Schorske provides a thorough overview of the culture of the Fin de Siecle with entries on literature, art, politics, the importance of the Ringstrasse, and the impact of Freud The importance of culture for literature and the rest of art is brilliantly propounded...Before I turned my focus towards Gauguin, I began with a survey of Gustav Klimt s artwork Carl Schorske is most likely the ultimate scholar on fin de siecle Vienna and provides excellent background, intimate details regarding daily life, city buildings, and analyzes Kl...Reading this book goes like this Dry academic stuff,dry stuff WOW Earthshakingly cool metaphor Dry stuff, dry stuff AWESOME chapter on urban planning Honestly, I did enjoy the academic jargon parts Any artwork needs to design in some empty space around wh...Since this book consists of sevenor less independent essays, I ll review them as I read them.I Politics and the Psyche Schnitzler and HofmannsthalSchorske introduces the basic crisis that constitutes the decadence discussed in the other essays, namely the conflict between rational, capitalist Classical Liberalism, the ruling ideology of Viennese politics from the 1860s to the end of the century, and airrational, instinctual psychological man who would come to ...

Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture

English
23 January 2017

Carl E. Schorske