The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War [Hardcover]

Alexander Waugh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

From Alexander Waugh, the author of the acclaimed memoir Fathers and Sons, comes a grand saga of a brilliant and tragic Viennese family.

The Wittgenstein family was one of the richest, most talented, and most eccentric in European history. Karl Wittgenstein, who ran away from home as a wayward and rebellious youth, returned to his native Vienna to make a fortune in the iron and steel industries. He bought factories and paintings and palaces, but the domineering and overbearing influence he exerted over his eight children resulted in a generation of siblings fraught by inner antagonisms and nervous tension. Three of his sons committed suicide; Paul, the fourth, became a world-famous concert pianist, using only his left hand and playing compositions commissioned from Ravel and Prokofiev; while Ludwig, the youngest, is now regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. In this dramatic historical and psychological epic, Alexander Waugh traces the triumphs and vicissitudes of a family held together by a fanatical love of music yet torn apart by money, madness, conflicts of loyalty, and the cataclysmic upheaval of two world wars. Through the bleak despair of a Siberian prison camp and the terror of a Gestapo interrogation room, one courageous and unlikely hero emerges from the rubble of the house of Wittgenstein in the figure of Paul, an extraordinary testament to the indomitable spirit of human survival.

Alexander Waugh tells this saga of baroque family unhappiness and perseverance against incredible odds with a novelistic richness to rival Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise from Britain for The House of Wittgenstein

“The story in this book is so gripping and fascinating that it is remarkable that it has never been told in this way before. It is probably just as well, for it is hard to imagine another account showing such fluency, wit and attention to detail as Alexander Waugh’s.” —Simon Heffer, Literary Review

“[A] diligently researched history of the Wittgenstein family . . . it will attract . . . readers because of its utterly absorbing account of the military, musical and personal heroics of Paul Wittgenstein.”—Ray Monk, Standpoint

“Waugh has done a masterly job, untangling a mass of financial and psychological complexities, while never over-encumbering the central, personal stories. His writing is brisk, confident and colourful . . . and the book is a pleasure to read.”
—Noel Malcolm, Telegraph

“Marvellous, a sharp combination of some formidable scholarship . . . with a wonderful eye for absurdity . . . a magnificently refreshing and invigorating volume which deserves a wide readership.” —Frank McLynn, The Independent


Praise for Fathers and Sons

“[Alexander Waugh] has created a vivid, Dickensian portrait of his eccentric relatives, and he’s done so with enormous irreverence and élan.”
—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

“An extraordinary depiction.” —Christopher Hitchens, New York Times Book Review

“Witty, in the Waugh manner, but it is also poignant.” —Joan Acocella, The New Yorker

“Hugely entertaining tales of literature and lunacy.” —Entertainment Weekly

“An immensely readable literary account of eccentric, memorable characters.” —Kirkus Reviews

A work of real discovery and rollicking narrative. This is a memorable biography, not to be missed.” —Norman Lebrecht, London Evening Standard

About the Author

ALEXANDER WAUGH is the grandson of Evelyn Waugh and the son of columnist Auberon Waugh. He has written several books, including Classical Music: A New Way of Listening, Time, and God. He lives in Somerset, England, with his wife and three children.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385520603
• ISBN-13: 978-0385520607
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ludwig Wittgenstein, Paul Wittgenstein, and siblings -- a remarkable but dysfunctional family, March 6, 2009

By 

R. M. Peterson (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War (Hardcover)

Alexander Waugh (grandson of Evelyn and son of Auberon) tells the story of another distinguished family, the Wittgensteins of Vienna, circa 1875-1950. The paterfamilias was Karl Wittgenstein, a cold-blooded industrialist who made himself one of the richest men in the Hapsburg Empire and put his family and home near the epicenter of Viennese culture at its height near the turn of the Century. For the most part THE HOUSE OF WITTGENSTEIN is a family biography of Karl, his wife Poldy, and their nine children, two of whom -- Ludwig, the greatest philosopher of the 20th Century, and Paul, a one-armed concert pianist -- achieved individual fame.

In addition to their phenomenal wealth, two other things marked the Wittgenstein clan: their shared passion and gift for music (there were seven grand pianos in their home, the "Palais") and their shared antagonisms, feuds, and overall dysfunctionality. The latter surely had something to do with the fact that all five sons seriously entertained the notion of suicide, and three actually did themselves in (although one was a case of suicide on the battlefield and probably was triggered by the prospect of capture). In addition, there are numerous other suicides by relatives and acquaintances. Yet again I am struck by the high incidence of suicide among middle-Europeans in the half century between 1875 and 1925. (And yet again I am prompted to think that surely it is no coincidence that the same milieu gave rise to Sigmund Freud.)

As between the two famous brothers who did not end their own lives, Waugh devotes much more discussion to Paul. To an extent, this certainly is justified, in that Ludwig's life story is recounted in numerous other books (the best, in my experience, is "Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius" by Ray Monk) and Paul's life intrinsically is much more interesting (which is not to say that his accomplishments outstripped Ludwig's). In World War I Paul displayed exemplary military courage during his short battlefield service, but in the first month of the war he was shot and lost his right arm. Afterwards, he had to endure more than a year as a POW in scandalous conditions in Russia, including a stint in the Krepost in Omsk, where Dostoevsky had been imprisoned and which served as the setting for "The House of the Dead." Beginning even in captivity Paul then transformed himself, with impressively adamantine will, into a left-handed concert pianist (aided somewhat by financial resources that allowed him to commission works for the left-hand from composers such as Ravel, Strauss, Prokofiev, and Britten).

While I can understand Waugh giving more attention to Paul than Ludwig, he is too stinting in his discussion of Ludwig and the significance of his work as a philosopher. For example, Ludwig's "Philosophical Investigations", almost certainly his single greatest philosophical work and arguably the most important book of philosophy in the 20th Century, receives nary a mention.

THE HOUSE OF WITTGENSTEIN reveals both of the famous brothers to be quite eccentric and fundamentally troubled. They both were capable of acts of courage and honor, but they did not get along easily with most people, they both had violent tempers, and both were often self-centered jerks. There is a sense in which both were caught up in and conflicted by their privileged and wealthy upbringing.

The most interesting part of the book concerns the family's efforts, after the "Anschluss" or German annexation of Austria, to wrangle permission from the Nazis for some family members to leave Austria with a portion of their fortune and for the others to be left alone in Austria (again, retaining some of their fortune) as "Mischling" rather than be shipped away to concentration camps. Nazi records showed three of the four grandparents of the Wittgenstein siblings to be Jews; therefore, under the Nuremberg laws, the siblings all were "Volljuden" or "full Jews". There were old long-suppressed family rumors, however, that their paternal grandfather was in actuality a bastard, sired by a German aristocrat, and eventually the clan successfully lobbied to have that pedigree endorsed by none other than Hitler, which rendered all of them "Mischling" or "half-breeds." This saga of the negotiations with the Nazis that allowed them to make it through World War II alive, albeit considerably less rich, takes up fifty pages of the book.

Waugh's narrative jumps around somewhat, from one Wittgenstein to another and back and forth in time, but the jumps are gracefully handled and easy to follow. In all, the narrative is very deftly managed and the writing, pleasantly informal, is a relaxing treat. I rather doubt that the book will be of much interest to anyone who does not already have an interest in Ludwig or Paul Wittgenstein or the peculiar culture of Vienna between 1875 and WWII, and even for them a few stretches of the book might elicit a few yawns. But for them, Alexander Waugh tells this story in as interesting and readable fashion as possible.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remarks on Ludwig, April 12, 2009

By 

J. A. Haverstick (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War (Hardcover)

I was wandering thru Borders with a 30% coupon and came upon this book. I had previously read the review in the NYRB. As have many people, I have been influenced by Ludwig W's take on philosophy and read it all (except Remarks on Mathematics, which I started with grim determination in a tavern, but quickly gave up on.) I wondered why they had two copies in the store but on checking out realized it is due to the relative popularity of the author and the clout of the publisher, Doubleday.

Those from industrial philosophy now approaching their dotage may remember the sixties and seventies when information about the private life of Ludwig W existed in only in scattered reminiscences and a few anecdotes which made him seem a moral monster. This information and also access to the Nachlass was jealously protected by a group of acolytes. His behavior was excused by his genius (but Einstein was a nice guy!) or having a tortured soul (try working the nite shift at Burger King!) Anyway, as more complete biographies appeared, some of the mystery disappeared.

At first, I regretted my buy, but as suicides and other tragedies thinned the cast, I became more interested and finished the book. And it's Paul W who's the main character, not Ludwig, as it turns out.

I did eventually come to a more sympathetic understanding of Ludwig by getting all that background on this rich and influential Austrian family and the members' various tribulations and eccentricities. Addtionally, it was good to see the philosopher treated in a book by an author who has no agenda and, in fact, seems a bit unimpressed by the subject (as person and discipline).

By the end of the book, as we were into a long description of the Wittgensteins and the German racial purity laws, I was really interested. This was a truly facinating glimpse of one aspect of life under the Nazis and how one might finesse it, given the leverage.

I really liked the book for these historical reasons. There are footnotes in the back, but in fact most of the details of the book are undocumented. I'm not suggesting any malfeasance here, it's not just that kind of book. And I see why Waugh's previous book on his own family was well received, as he does have a very engaging style. So I'd say if you're interested in Paul or Ludwig, or just like biographies of the rich and famous in general or even interested in central European modern history, this is a good book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unhappy in its own way, May 15, 2010

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Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War (Paperback)

Karl Wittgenstein left his many children a fortune practically unparalleled among the commoners of the Austro-Hunagrian empire through his enormous diversified wealthy holdings; he also left them his love of classical music (Mahler, Strauss, and Schoenberg all played in his salon), and unfortunately his incredibly fastidious temperament that brought them each much misery and made it difficult for them to stand one another (or other people). Alexander Waugh's THE HOUSE OF WITTGENSTEIN is a biography of his children, three of whom committed suicide (all for very different reasons and in mysterious circumstances), and two of whom left indelible marks on the twentieth century: the one-armed pianist Paul, one of the foremost classical artists of his era, and his youngest brother Ludwig, the great philosopher. Given that Alexander Waugh (himself from a famously talented, and famously unhappy, family) is a classical music critic, the primary focus of this story is Paul, a man perhaps not of the highest talents but who used his family fortune to commission piano pieces for the left hand from Korngold, Britten, and Ravel that ensured him fame and greatly enriched the piano repertoire; but the biography also focuses a great deal on Paul, and on two of their sisters, Gretl and Hermine, who were important figures within the family.

Waugh really is exciting when he tells us about the news of the family's love of music and Paul's career as both a pianist and as a patron of great composers; unfortunately, he is less exciting when it comes to describing Ludwig's philosophy, which he clearly does not understand and views mostly as mere chicanery. And though portraits of both Hermine and Gretl emerge from the biography, most of their other siblings remain mysteries. So too do the Wittgensteins' parents, Karl and Leopoldine--though Waugh tells us much about how Karl left home very early, we learn little about how he became one of the greatest industrialists the Austro-Hungarian Empire had ever seen. Taking the long view of the entire family rather than just focusing on Paul necessitated that Waugh should have learned more than he did, and that he also should have written a bigger book. But the underlying story of how the Wittgensteins lost their fortune, through their own muddled generosity, through the devastation of the Austrian economy after WWII, and through the Reichsbank draining them dry to get out of Austria after the Anschluss, is a compelling story.