Carl E. SchorskeAnmeldelser

Simply first rate--an exhaustive and lively history of a fascinating period in Central European cultural history.

No political parties of present-day Germany are separated by a wider gulf than the two parties of labor, one democratic and reformist, the other totalitarian and socialist-revolutionary. Social Democrats and Communists today face each other as bitter political enemies across the front lines of the Cold War; yet they share a common origin in the Social Democratic Party of Imperial Germany. How did they come to go separate ways? By what process did the old party break apart? How did the prewar party prepare the ground for the dissolution of the labor movement in World War I, and for the subsequent extension of Leninism into Germany? To answer these questions is the purpose of Carl Schorske's study.

This is not merely the best historical account of the dissensions within the German socialist movement, but also contains a bibliographical essay that is a considerable aid to further reading. Central European socialism before and after 1914 is a world in itself, and its understanding requires at least some familiarity with its voluminous literature, including its more important periodicals. [1961]

"Politics and culture" means that the author is relating developments in culture (art, architecture, literature, psychoanalysis and more) with each other as well as to the "liberal" ascendancy and then decline in the politics of Vienna and Austria-Hungary in the second half of the nineteenth century. The description of the interactions between political trends, cultural trends and different cultural manifestations (such as psychoanalysis and art) make for complexities that challenge the reader. Schorske often uses binary comparisons/contrasts to bring out the changes taking place (Schnitzler/von Hoffmanstahl, Sitte/Wagner, Schoenberg/Kokoschka). He also introduces the three political figures who led the movements which undercut liberal politics (Georg von Schoenerer/Pan-Germanism, Karl Lueger/Christian Socialism), and Herzl/Zionism)). It is a fascinating book well worth the investment of reading it, especially the long chapter on Klimt. The reader who wants some more background on Vienna itself could read the short work by Arthur May, Vienna in the Age of Franz Josef.½

הנושא מרתק. המחבר בבירור יודע מבין וחקר. אבל הספר בסופו של דבר מאכזב. הסיבות לכך הן שתיים. הראשונה שמדובר באוסף וינייטים ללא אפילו ניסיון לקשר ביניהם. מאמרים נפרדים ומנותקים שלפעמים אפילו מפנים את הגב אחד לשני. הבעיה השניה היא האקדמיזמיה המוגזמת, ז'רגון מוגזם, ניסוחים כבדים ולא ברורים, עודף אורדיציה ופחות מדי סיפור הופכים ספר לספר עם פוטנציאל אדיר אך לא ממוצה.

Carl Schorske liefert mit diesem Werk eine umfassende Erläuterung zu einigen Phenomenen des 20sten Jahrhunderts und argumentiert eindrucksvoll warum diese Ihren Ursprung im Östereich - oder besser Wien - der Jahrhundertwende hatten. Ein besonders lesenswertes und zu empfehlendes Buch, welches viele Entwicklungen der letzten hunderten Jahre verständlicher macht.

Brilliant essays on the period. I only wish I had a stronger background in the history in order to better understand Schorske.

Tirando Freud, tudo me interessa: Scnitzler, von Hoffmansthal, Klimt, Art Nouveau em geral, Kokoschka, Shoenberg. A história do jardim de Shoenberg é fascinante.

Political Science
225 Political Science in the 1940s and 1950s Charles Lindblom
253 Still Blowing in the Wind: The American Quest fora Democratic, Scientific Political Science Rogers M. Smith

Retrata la vida política, artística y cultural de la Viena de fin de siglo.

2526 Fin-de-Siecle Vienna Politics and Culture, by Carl E. Schorske (read 7 Aug 1993) (Pulitzer Nonfiction prize in 1981) For years I wanted to read this book, and finally got it thru inter-library loan. It surely was not what I expected. It is essentially seven articles discussing art, architecture, music, and politics in Austria before World War One. The blurb says it is a landmark book from one of the truly original scholars of our time, a significant revelation of turn-of-the-century Vienna where out of a crisis of political and social disintegration so much of modern art and thought was born. I found it a chore to read. I sure welcomed the last page.