Major Figures of Austrian Literature: The Interwar Years 1918-1938

by Donald G. Daviau

The period of Austrian literary history from 1918 to 1939 has until fairly recently been relatively ignored. Scholars tended to avoid these gray, politically dominated years in favor of researching the much more glamorous fin de siecle. Clearly without the reflection of the resplendent Habsburg Monarchy illuminating the country, society became darker, dingier, less free-spirited, less animated and happy. Life became much more difficult in the aftermath of the Austrian/German defeat in World War I. The Interwar Years have been characterized as a period of beginning and decline. More fitting is the characterization new beginnings and detour. For the Anschluss represented not an end but rather a period during which Austria, the true spirit and tradition of Austria in terms of its literature and culture, went into either actual or inner emigration, only to reappear stronger than ever in 1945. when the connection to the tradition interrupted by the book burnings of 1933 and the Anschluss of 1938 was reestablished. Alongside of tradition ran innovation as a major characteristic of the Interwar Years -- a mix of conservative and radical tendencies. -- This volume is a contribution toward bringing greater understanding of this extraordinarily rich literary period, in which recognition of the depth and breadth of the cultural sphere has often been overshadowed and obscured by the pressing economic and political problems, for which the backward-looking government had no solutions. Rarely have writers been more divided among themselves than in this period requiring political choice.

Hardcover

First published November 1, 1995