About Vienna - Your City Travel Guide
About Vienna - Your City Travel Guide
About Vienna - Your City Travel Guide

Viennese Culture

Literature

Literature in Vienna: Franz Grillparzer

Grillparzer is emblematic of the late Austrian monarchy for several reasons. He described himself as split personality always drawn between rational thought and galloping fantasy.

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FRANZ GRILLPARZER (1791-1872)
Theater in Vienna: Ferdinand Raimund

Raimund's plays are typical examples of romantic magical comedies with fairy stories, moral allegories and deus-ex-machina happy endings which are at odds with contemporary tastes.

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FERDINAND RAIMUND (1790–1836)
Literature in Vienna: Johann Nestroy

Johann Nestroy is often dubbed the Austrian Shakespeare. Quite rightly: like the great master of English literature, Nestroy impersonated the one or other character of his plays himself until he died.

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JOHANN NESTROY (1801–1862)
Literature in Vienna: Arthur Schnitzler

Arthur Schnitzler is one of Austria's literary heavyweights. He received extensive training in medicine and was especially interested in psychology, an interest that influenced his writing a great deal.

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ARTHUR SCHNITZLER (1862 - 1931)
Felix Salten: Bambi

He is remembered for two publications which have little in common: Felix Salten was the one to cook up the heart-breaking story of a cute fawn named 'Bambi'. His other major novel is called 'Josephine Mutzenbacher'...

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Literature in Vienna: Robert Musil

His first novel 'Die Verwirrungen des Zögling Törleß' (Confusions of Young Torless) was published in 1906 and hauntingly describes the experiences of a sensitive boy in an exclusive military school...

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Literature in Vienna: Joseph Roth

Joseph Roth was an acute chronicler of the downfall of the Habsburg empire and the reverberations for the Austrian people. Central to his work is the last imperial couple Franz Josef I (image) and Sissi.

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Literature in Vienna: Ingeborg Bachmann

Ingeborg Bachmann is one of the major players in Austrian literature. She has a reputation as a brilliant writer of poetry, prose and radio plays.

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INGEBORG BACHMANN (1926-1973)
Literature in Vienna: Thomas Bernhard

Thomas Bernhard's relationship to Vienna and Austria was ambivalent. His texts often contain harsh descriptions of life in post war Austria. Reading Bernhard is highly pleasurable, it is also unnerving.

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THOMAS BERNHARD (1931 – 1989)
Literature in Vienna: Peter Handke

Peter Handke is journalist, translater and highly successful writer of plays and prose. Many of his works have been translated into various languages.

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Literature in Vienna: Elfriede Jelinek

Elfriede Jelinek is the younger counterpart of Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard. As Bernhard she is at the same time a highly acclaimed writer and proverbial Beelzebub abused for her critical views.

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Literature in Vienna: Wolf Haas

Right now, Wolf Haas is one of the most successful Austrian authors. Audience and critics both love him, his books sell and are occasionally turned into successful movies, too!

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Cabaret in Vienna: Josef Hader

Vienna looks back on a thriving tradition of cabaret, a form of popular theater which often consists of short sketches, songs and parodies presented by a 'Conférencier', an eloquent entertainer.

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