Abigail Gillman. Viennese Jewish Modernism: Freud, Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler and Beer-Hofmann

From Penn State University Press, forthcoming 2009. Viennese Jewish Modernism brings together three cultural phenomena usually described separately: the breakdown of traditional modes of transmitting the past to the present; the development of European modernism; and the remarkable Jewish contribution to Viennese culture in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The crucible within which these phenomena interact is Vienna, 1890-1938. An array of works by four intellectuals – Sigmund Freud, Arthur Schnitzler, Richard Beer-Hofmann and Hugo von Hofmannsthal – exemplifies Viennese Jewish modernism. These four writers would not likely have identified themselves as Jewish modernists; most likely, all four were never in the same room together. This is the first book to view them retrospectively as a circle unto themselves within Viennese modernism, itself a heterogeneous movement consisting of numerous intersecting cultural spheres and diverse trends.

Read more about Dr. Gillman’s book here: http://www.psupress.psu.edu/books/titles/978-0-271-03409-6.html