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The Austrian poet, playwright, novelist, biographer, and essayist, Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), committed suicide partly in despair over the rise of the Third Reich; but in the late 1930s, Zweig traveled to Brazil and wrote about its cities, history, economy, and culture.

Michael Aldrian, a retired Viennese opera prompter, travels to Venice to visit his brother and sister-in-law for the holidays, but they seem to have disappeared without a trace. Intending to write a travel guide to Venice, Aldrian heads out into the flooded city. But he is subsequently followed, threatened, and attacked. He then receives a package of Italian lira, presumably as a bribe. The police advise him to return to Vienna, but he stays, hoping to solve the mysterious disappearance of the couple. Yet another package contains the hands of his brother and sister-in-law, and soon thereafter their bodies are fished out of the sea. Inexorably and almost without his complicity, he is drawn into the intrigue, more as a participant than as a spectator. As if in a nightmare, he traverses the city and kills several people who stand in his way. Has he gone crazy, or is it the world?Author Gerhard Roth was born in Graz in 1942, the son of a medical doctor and a nurse. He originally intended to study medicine, but soon discontinued his studies. For ten years Roth worked as a computer programmer to support his growing family, but since the mid-1970s he has been exclusively a writer. His major works consist of a cycle of seven novels, Die Archive des Schweigens (The Archives of Silence), and another novel cycle, Orkus (Hades). His work has earned extensive critical acclaim over the years, including the Döblin Prize (1983), the Kreisky Prize (2002), and the Grand Austrian State Prize (2016), among many others.

¿Alois Riegl was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient academic discipline, and one of the most influential practitioners of formalism. In 1883 Riegl wrote his dissertation on the Romanesque Church of St. Jacob, Regensburg (manuscript lost). He joined the staff of the Austrian Museum of Decorative Arts (Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforchung) and began writing his Habilitation, Die Mittelalterliche Kalenderillustration, in 1889, which examined the Hellenistic tradition in medieval calendar manuscripts. In 1886 he began curatorial training in the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, succeeding another Thausing student, Franz Wickhoff, in 1887 working for the next ten years as curator of textiles at the Austrian museum. Riegl's first two books, Altorientalische Teppiche and Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, 1891 and 1893 respectively, follow from his work in the museum. Even in these first books, his interest in theory as well as an interdisciplinary view of art history was evident. Stilfragen gained Riegl an extraordinarius position at the University of Vienna in 1894. He continued his interest in common art objects-what were then considered minor arts-in his next book, Volkskunst, Hausfleiss und Hausindustrie, 1894, which employed economic theory in constructing their history. In 1894 and 1895 he began lecturing on baroque art, a period still largely viewed as decadent, ushering in (together with the work of Cornelius Gurlitt) a new evaluation of the stylistic period. At Vienna, he and Wickhoff formed what came to be known as the (first) Vienna school of art historical method. For more, see The Dictionary of Art Historians, arthistorians.info.

A celebrated comic book author suffers a mysterious death. His widow, Lilli Kuck, spontaneously travels to the site of his accident in Venice and traces entries in her husband's notebook, following his routes and trying to meet with people he encountered during his final days. Her sleuthing uncovers several of her late-husband's secrets, forcing Lilli to question how well she had really known her life's companion. She also witnesses the killing of a policeman and herself becomes a target for murder. In the end, her journey to Venice becomes a journey to herself, confronting the very riddles of life itself.Author Gerhard Roth was born in Graz in 1942, the son of a medical doctor and a nurse. He originally intended to study medicine, but soon discontinued his studies. For ten years Roth worked as a computer programmer to support his growing family, but since the mid-1970s he has been exclusively a writer. His major works consist of a cycle of seven novels, Die Archive des Schweigens (The Archives of Silence), and another novel cycle, Orkus (Hades). His work has earned extensive critical acclaim over the years, including the Döblin Prize (1983), the Kreisky Prize (2002), and the Grand Austrian State Prize (2016), among many others.

Emil Lanz, an Austrian translator living in Venice, suffers a mid-life crisis and is about to commit suicide when he witnesses a murder. Mobsters burn his house and threaten his life, but he fights back and, in turn, kills two of his pursuers. Though he survives, his previous routine is destroyed . . . then rebuilt, thanks to an eccentric billionaire. He frequently questions the evolving situation: Is it a new reality? A consequence of his suicide that has transported him to a new dimension, to an afterlife? Or has he gone mad and is now in an insane asylum?Author Gerhard Roth was born in Graz in 1942, the son of a medical doctor and a nurse. He originally intended to study medicine, but soon discontinued his studies. For ten years Roth worked as a computer programmer to support his growing family, but since the mid-1970s he has been exclusively a writer. His major works consist of a cycle of seven novels, Die Archive des Schweigens (The Archives of Silence), and another novel cycle, Orkus (Hades). His work has earned extensive critical acclaim over the years, including the Döblin Prize (1983), the Kreisky Prize (2002), and the Grand Austrian State Prize (2016), among many others.

"Tradition and Change in Urban China," an anthropological research study, explores the issue of Shanghainese identity viewed through the lens of critical hermeneutic theory. Historical underpinnings of Shanghai society include Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and the tradition of Dynastic rule; more recent influences upon Shanghainese identity include Maoism, Communism, and particularly the ten-year Cultural Revolution. The government's One-Child Policy created a generation of youth who seem alienated from society, burdened with responsibilities, and lonely within a city of 22 million people. The youth of modernity have no brothers of sisters, previously so inherent to family structure within China. Finally, exposure to democracy, free speech, and other ideas of Western culture also influence Shanghainese identity today. Research findings bring to light both the complexity and contradictions of present-day Shanghainese identity. Filial piety is readily apparent in Shanghai, a tradition that dates back to the sixth century B. C. E., and, more specifically to Confucius. Strongly dedicated to family, these same youth appear drawn to Western fashion; they consider and reflect upon a Western model of democracy, and an expansion of human rights in China. Citizens of Shanghai appreciate the current higher standard of living; however, material possessions alone cannot satisfy yearnings for rights to relocate within China, or to travel abroad, or perhaps to have more than one child in urban areas. At the same time, the people of Shanghai are typically loyal to China, and willing for changes to occur gradually over time. In sum, this text highlights how remnants of the historical past in China influence present-day modes of being in Shanghai. The old and the new are juxtaposed in modern times, as traditional Chinese music, opera and calligraphy endure; concurrently, there is also appropriation of Western fashion and enjoyment of Western film. In the Shanghainese society of today, one finds a people who are talented, creative, entrepreneurial, multilingual, and extremely gracious in manner. The people of Shanghai face challenges such as pollution and unemployment, and yet they persevere and endure, as they have through much more difficult days past. Shanghainese identity holds a confluence of the historic and recent past, with hopefulness in the present for the possibility of further change in days yet to come.

Arthur Schnitzer was not only a playwright with a keen eye for the human psyche, but he was also an astute social critic. He grappled with the double-standards of 'polite society', Jewish identity and gender relations, causing a scandal with nearly every single one of his plays. Max Haberich traces the life of this great writer and thinker from a fresh perspective, enhancing his study with previously unknown material, including an unused archive in the Cambridge University libraries. This biography casts light on little-known aspects of Schnitzler's life and work, which is also illustrated by hitherto unpublished correspondence with his wife.

There is scarcely a modern writer more difficult to subsume under a single heading or category than Hugo von Hofmannsthal. His manifold gifts as a poet, playwright, librettist, novelist, essayist, anthologist and co-founder of the Salzburg Festival are astonishing enough. That he assimilated so much literary tradition while at the same time exploring a wealth of new forms such as lyrical drama, the prose poem or the fictional letter, gives his oeuvre an appearance of protean creativity. The twin forces of tradition and innovation are co-existent in him and both give impetus to his art. Born in Vienna in 1874 and heir to the great legacy of European letters, he commanded the principal ancient and modern languages and as an avid reader was conversant with all major writers of the past. Vienna at the turn of the nineteenth century is to be seen as a focal meeting-place of European culture: it is the city of Gustav Mahler, Sigmund Freud, Ernst Mach, Gustav Klimt, Hermann Bahr, Arthur Schnitzler and Karl Kraus, to name but a few of the most prominent of the artists, writers and thinkers who lent distinction to that great centre of 'the multi-national state'. It was a city which continued to hold fast to tradition in its social and political life: it preserved its ancient monarchy until the death of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916. Hofmannsthal saw forty-two years of that reign and had only eleven more years of life left after the new Republic of Austria was established in 1918.

The time for autobiographies has arrived. Interest in authentic life stories seems greater than ever, even greater than well written works of fiction, because readers begin to recognise that nothing is more fantastic than the complicated reality through which we are forced to make our way. Accounts of everyday life have long since become a source of historic insight, and even historians are beginning to admit that concrete vignettes of an autobiographer's life are often better able to portray what the past was really like. All of this holds true for the memoirs of Jakob Ludwig Heller, who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries. The records that he left behind reveal that nostalgic individuals were not far wrong in viewing the Empire and its era as the quintessence of an intact world. Of course things were not as peaceful and happy for everyone in the Danube monarchy, but compared with today's world, Jakob Ludwig Heller's milieu was a true idyll, where marriages endured, family ties were strong, hard work was rewarded, and people rejoiced over simple social gatherings. Upbringing was strict, but caring, the children were well behaved, and earning a living was fun. Long live progress! The feeling that what he describes is lost forever is magnified further by the fact that he grew up in a Jewish, Central European milieu, where Jews perhaps did not live without tensions among neighbours of other faiths, but did live without being persecuted, robbed, and murdered. Not only Jewish readers will regret the loss of that normal way of life. Near the end of his memoirs, in retrospect the diarist complains about the inexplicable intrusions of lax morals, the disappearance of fixed norms, and the lack of the earlier, ever-present feeling of security and continuity. What would he say today? But what makes the reading of this simple story so rewarding, apart from the historic information, is the intelligent, humorous, warm-hearted man who is encountered on every page. His comments about the First World War are especially touching. Despite his extensive life experience, they betray his naïve belief in Germany and Austria, in the government and the army. He is convinced that the Central Powers fight for a just cause at a time when Karl Kraus is writing "The Last Days of Mankind". But in those days the great satirist was still quite alone with his opinion. Most of the Jews, even most of the people, probably felt as did Jakob Ludwig Heller. And the waning of those certainties is the greatest tragedy of all, a sign of the insurmountable distance between our world and that of the past.

Initially published in 1984, this is a revised translation into English and provides an informative Afterword by Lowell A Bangerter (Professor of German, University of Wyoming) of a seminal and scholarly work that combines historical analysis, social research, and a broad survey of the unique culture forces and politics that have shaped present-day Austria. Individual chapters address controversies, myths, stereotypes, the wide variety of ethnic groups, and more. The Austrian Nation is thoughtfully recommended as being a seminal and ground breaking study of a European nation.

Text in English & German. This volume contains the presentations given at the International Stefan Zweig Congress, held in Salzburg in February 1992. The essays are organised in five separate groups, each centring on a topic of concern to Zweig scholarship: war and peace, writing in exile, Jewishness and exile, the biographical writings from exile, and the stations of exile. An appendix contains additional congress-related informational material. Three of the essays are in English, the remainder in German.

The best access to Vienna is through its history. This chronologically organised survey of Vienna from its origins to the present does not presuppose any detailed knowledge of Central European history. The book covers cultural, political and social influences.

Elfriede Jelinek''s wide-ranging literary production has brought her to the forefront of the Austrian literary scene. The fifteen essays collected here demonstrate the significance of this major literary voice, addressing Jelinek as a master of modernist prose, of post-modern critique of literary genres, and of stage and screen. Hers is a strong voice against domestic violence, pornography, oppression of women, and the continuance of the fascist legacy in the everyday world of contemporary Austria and Germany. Jelinek is represented in this volume with an essay on translation and is further introduced by an interview. The remaining fifteen contributions by eminent scholars from both Europe and the United States illuminate Jelinek''s writings through discussions of her major works. These critical analyses of her prose and drama and their attendant bibliographies make Jelinek''s fascinating and highly relevant literary world available to English-speaking readers for the first time.

Contains thirty-six original essays by the celebrated Viennese architect, Adolf Loos (1870-1933). Most deal with questions of design in a wide range of areas, from architecture and furniture, to clothes and jewellery, pottery, plumbing, and printing; others are polemics on craft education and training, and on design in general. Loos, the great cultural reformer and moralist in the history of European architecture and design was always a ''revolutionary against the revolutionaries''. With his assault on Viennese arts and crafts and his conflict with bourgeois morality, he managed to offend the whole country. His 1908 essay ''Ornament and Crime'', mocked by an age in love with its accessories, has come to be recognised as a seminal work in combating the aesthetic imperialism of the turn of the century. Today Loos is recognised as one of the great masters of modern architecture.