Customer Reviews

Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture

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Carl E. Schorske has aptly chosen Vienna to explore the development of the birth of modernism. At the turn of the century, Vienna, with its wide lane Ringstrasse and intellectual attracting cafés was a stage; and it is only fitting that people strode across this stage with a sense of purpose and graduer which influences much of what we think of as "modern" whether it be art, music or thought. From Schnitzler to Freud to Klimt, Schorske shows how the stage like facade of Vienna was built during an era of decay; an era where the empire found itself on the brink of destruction and the industrial revolution had cleanly severed peoples' ties to traditions which had given life meaning. And the loam of decay, a well-spring of desperation, caused the great thinkers of Vienna to search for something to hold onto as one century slipped into the next. Schorke, with a clean prose style, captures the search for meaning across a number of intellectual and cultural movements in Vienna. The history of Vienna at the turn of the century reads like the history of modern thought and Schorske does a remarkable job of convincing his readers that, truly, the desperation felt at the end of the Hapsburg empire was not merely an Austrian phenomena, but a cultural wave which swept across the world and which, on stage, in psychology and in art, still carries in its wake the most contemporary of ideas. To learn more about fin-de-sicle Vienna, try Arthur Schnitler's "The Road into the Open." Frederic Morton's, "A Nervous Splendor" and Hilde Spiel's, "Vienna's Golden autumn."

This is simply a phenomenal book. Schorske jumpstarted an interest in fin-de-siecle Vienna in the 1960's and opened the door for a plethora of scholars to build upon his work. Schorske's ideas are nothing short of brilliant and profound.

Granted, this is a tough read. The language is difficult, often verbiose. But never unnecessarily so. The subject matter is intrinsically complex and Schorske's diction only mirrors that.

One need not be a specialist to read this, though perhaps a good level of intelligence and fortitude to make it through some very complex ideas. It is a book to be read and re-read, at various intervals in life, particularly after a visit to Vienna where Schorske's words really come to life.

I lived in Vienna for two years, and in fact wrote my Masters thesis on the Viennese identity crisis at the fin-de-siecle. Schorske's book is one I can always go back to and still get something out of. It is ever-challenging and ever-fascinating.

If you are interested in a particular spin to traditional theories on Viennese modernity, read Jacques LeRider's "Modernity and Identity Crisis," whose thesis is that turn-of-the-century Vienna forshadowed postmodernism. LeRider takes Schorske up several notches, and therefore the two books are good to read one after another.

This book in not for everyone, but at the same time I feel it does not exclude either. If you've come across this review with no particular interest in Viennese modernity or intellectual history, I urge you to try this book anyway. It is rich enough to enrapture even the mildly curious mind.

Reading Schorske is like riding a time machine to Vienna around the tumultuous late 1800s to 1900. He covers an electic array of topics. However, he has a central focus: to show the radical changes and interconnection between arts & politics at the turn of the century vienna (fin de siecle). But, be warned, Schorske is an intellectual historian, and though his exposition is easy to read, his themes are academic and copiously detailed.

Schorske first lays out the setting of a growing city. He describes the monumental architectural project of the Ringstrasse (the Ring Street around central Vienna) and the rising liberalism and shifting wealth this represented.

The more interesting, and key, episode of the book involves the reactions to this change in Austria, in the form of new politics, anti-semitism, Zionism, and of the ramifications in Arts, Sciences and Music. Specifically, Schorske writes about transformations of viennese politicians, medical doctor Sigmund Freud, artist Gustav Klimt, and musician Arnold Shoenberg. The "vignettes" of these figures are academic and marvelously entertaining. What's surprising is how closely these key figures in 20th century intellectual development were connected; Vienna was a small city, after all. As I said, you'll feel like you're walking through the bustling streets of Vienna, and spotting Freud or Mahler (though Schoerske doesn't cover Mahler) on a leisurely stroll.

Carl Schorske's ambitious attempt and describing the social and political situation at the end of the 19th centrury in Vienna is a must for any person interested in the rise of modernity. Schorscke succeedes in looking at the situation in Vienna from an insiders view. He dives into the culture and politics of the emerging city and closely examins all the factors and people that led to the rise of Vienna as the capital of Europe in the end of the 19th century. His chapter on Gustav Klimt is outstanding and deeply shows how he was an artist who symbolized the Viennese people and the modernity movement. For furthur reading I suggest "All That Is Solid Melts Into Air" by Marshall Berman.

I like this book! It gives me endless ruminations and thought out insights using the work of psychoanalysis to explain and explicate the subject matter- Vienna at the turn of the last century. This fits extremely well considering that psychoanalysis erupted form that very place at that very time. The life of Vienna, in its myriad forms, can be well understood via psychoanalysis - in many ways modern Vienna too is still a psychoanalytic trove - this book needs slow and careful reading; it will need more than one "going-over". Highly recommended - but if you are opposed to psychoanalysis...keep away! Be warned!

How does an historian, whose job it is to interpret the past, come to terms with a cultural movement built upon the concept of modernity rejoicing in the death of history? This is exactly the question posed by Carl E. Schorske in his book Fin-De-Siecle Vienna Politics and Culture. In a series of essays, which the author admits are not meant to be interlaced, Schorske examines Vienna's cultural reaction to both the decline of Liberalism and the end of the Habsburg Empire. The task of merging politics and culture is not an easy undertaking and the faint-hearted reader should beware. "Just as a knowledge of the critical methods of modern science is necessary for interpreting that science historically," writes Schorske, "so a knowledge of the kinds of analysis practiced by modern humanists is necessary for coming to grips with the makers of twentieth-century non scientific knowledge" (p. xxi). Yet this brand of historical analysis is not that simple as Schorske goes on to explain. It appears, still more separates the historian from the humanist. According to Schorske, a dual approach is required when attempting to analyze cultural history. This binary-method is analogous, he argues, to a vertical and diagonal line. In the "diachronic" or vertical line, the historian more or less places the cultural in its historical context. In the "synchronic" or horizontal line, he or she looks at the relationship of the particular element of culture studied with what else is going on in the world of art, music, literature, and architecture. In a useful analogy, the author believes "The diachronic thread is the warp, the synchronic one is the woof in the fabric of cultural history. The historian is the weaver, but the quality of his cloth depends on the strength and color of the thread" (p. xxii). But what does this all mean? The essays that follow, though providing an enjoyable read, raise some doubts about Schorske's conclusions. The strength lies in the author's ability to place the culture of late nineteenth century Vienna in its historical context. In the opening "Politics and Psyche: Schnitz and Hofmannsthal," Schorske successfully ties the other essays together by introducing the two strands of Austrian fin-de-siecle culture:moralistic-scientific and the aesthetic. A conventional historian may feel more at home with the former, however, the aesthetic aspect is more difficult for many of us, to borrow a trite cliche, to carve in stone. Arguing functionality versus aesthetically appealing, or the placing of ancient Greek statuary on the steps of the Parliament building because Vienna had no past, therefore, it had no political heroes of its own to memorialize in sculpture, needless to say is unconvincing. Since Schorske cites no government documents, to back up his claims of Liberal motives and intentions in urban modernization, for example, his analysis of the connection between politics and culture borders on pure conjecture. The Freudian injection, resulting in the weakest essay of the book should have been omitted. Aside from the above-mentioned flaws, the book is interesting. Schorske's possesses a clear literary style, that helps the reader survive this graduate level sleeper. The addition of color plates, an anachronism in today's budgeted publishing industry was a welcome sight indeed. Yet, one wonders if such abstract concepts as modernity and aesthetics ought to be left to those more qualified outside the historical profession. Such studies, as art criticism itself, surely leave room for varying interpretations that open the doors for open debate.

The artistic, cultural, economic, social, and political life of turn-of-the-century Vienna was nothing if not complex. Its class structures and ethnic divides were rigid yet intricately interwoven; its artistic life rich, varied but intensely competitive; its politics turbulent, angry and divisive.

Carl Schorske brought significant research and scholarly weight to these diverse but linked fields. His biographical sketches of the policies and theories of leading Viennese political figures of the era, men like Georg von Schonerer, Karl Lueger, and Theodor Herzl, provide especially important insight to the understanding of later 20th century developments.

Shorske's prose tends to the academically baroque and dense. His outlook on some matters, heavily influenced by the Freudian psychoanalytic theories that remained fashionable at the time of his writing in the 1950's, seems almost quaintly dated by contemporary standards. Nonetheless, Fin-de Siecle Vienna is a classic work of historical analysis, essential to the understanding of the profound political and intellectual ferment that marked end of the century Vienna and was about to change the face of Europe. The Hapsburg empire that had tied together a great variety of national and ethnic groupings for centuries was becoming unglued.

Fin-de Siecle Vienna ought to be regarded as compulsory reading not just for scholars of Central European history, but for anyone interested in the decline and fall of the once mighty Austrio-Hungarian empire.

I borrowed and read this book n the Dutch translation some time ago. It gives a slendid survey of the 19th century architeture of Vienna. So I wanted it for myself in the original text.

Schorske employs the vision of a garden (Eden) to dramatize how deeply the changes of modernization were felt in Vienna. Just as Adam and Eve were forced out of the perfect garden, so where Viennese forced to redefine their perspectives of what High Culture was and what importance was. By analyzing creators of elite culutre and the revolution they inspired, Schorske tells a story of Vienna and its thrust into the modern world

I was gifted this by my academic adviser before doing a study abroad in Vienna. I ended up taking an Austrian cultural history class and when the area covered in this book came up, I became the teacher's pet.
It is very detailed, but readable, and comes with great pictures and diagrams that illustrate what the author is describing.