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Theodor Herzl and Richard von Schaukal: Self-Styled Nobility and the Sources of Bourgeois Belligerence in Prewar Vienna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Michael Burri
Affiliation:
German and Humanities at Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085

Abstract

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Type
Forum: New Views of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1997

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References

1 Karpfen, Fritz, Literarisches Verbrecheralbum (Vienna, 1918), 1415Google Scholar; Sonnleitner, Johann, “Eherne Sonette 1914. Richard von Schaukal und der Erste Weltkrieg,” in Österreich und der groβe Krieg. 1914–1918, ed. Amann, Klaus and Lengauer, Hubert (Vienna, 1989), 152–58.Google Scholar In addition to the much discussed work of Havel, see also Wojtyła, Karol, The Collected Plays and Writings on Theater, trans. Taborski, Boleslaw (Berkeley, Calif., 1987).Google Scholar

2 Herzl, Theodor, Briefe und Tagebücher, ed. Bein, Alex, Greive, Hermann, Schaerf, Moshe, and Schoeps, Julius H., 5 vols. (Berlin, 1983), 2:48.Google Scholar

3 Bein, Alex, Theodore Herzl, trans. Samuel, Maurice (Philadelphia, 1941), 335–36.Google Scholar

4 Zweig, Stefan, The World of Yesterday (New York, 1943), 106.Google Scholar

5 von Schaukal, Richard, “Herkunft und Anfänge. Kennzeichen,” in Beiträge zu einer Selbstdarstellung (1929; reprint Vienna, 1934), 45.Google Scholar

6 Schaukal, , Beiträge zu einer Selbstdarstellung, 55.Google Scholar

7 Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York, 1959), 36.Google Scholar

8 See Mayer, Arno J., The Persistence of the Old Regime (New York, 1981).Google Scholar

9 Sked, Alan, The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire (London, 1989), 187.Google Scholar Sked makes the case against the thesis of the decline and “inevitable” fall of the Habsburg order. Despite its well-known weaknesses, he concludes, the empire dissolved because it lost World War I.

10 Trommler, Frank, “The Creation of a Culture of Sachlichkeit,” in Society, Culture, and the State in Germany, 1870–1930, ed. Eley, Geoff (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1996), 465–85Google Scholar; Trommler, , “Sachlichkeit statt Bürgerlichkeit,” in Von der Aufgabe der Freiheit. Politische Verantwortung und bürgerliche Gesellschaft im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, ed. Jansen, Christian, Niethammer, Lutz, and Weisbrod, Bernd (Berlin, 1995), 63–46.Google Scholar

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12 Schaukal, , Beiträge zu einer Selbstdarstellung, 18.Google Scholar

13 Schaukal, Richard, Intérieurs aus dem Leben der Zwanzigjährigen (Leipzig, 1901), 186.Google Scholar

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17 The official proclamation for the ennoblement of Schaukal appeared in Wiener Zeitung, 05 28, 1918, 1.Google Scholar For Schaukal as the last high civil servant, consult Suchy, Viktor, “Die ‘österreichische Idee’ als konservative Staatsidee bei Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Richard von Schaukal und Anton Wildgans,” in Staat und Gesellschaft in der modernen österreichischen Literatur, ed. Aspetsberger, Friedbert (Vienna, 1977), 29.Google Scholar

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19 “Allerhöchste Entschließung,” 05 18, 1918Google Scholar (Priora: 3934/ K.U.M.) Staatsarchiv (Vienna). The case of Schaukal numbered among the 712 elevations in rank performed during the two-year reign of Emperor Karl. For noble promotion during this period, see Wiesflecker, Peter, “Nobilitierungen Kaiser Karls I von Österreich. Studien zum Österreichischen Adel am Ende der Donaumonarchie” (D.Phil, diss., University of Vienna, 1992).Google Scholar

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21 Nadler, Josef, Literaturgeschichte Österreichs (Linz, 1948), 448.Google Scholar

22 Schaukal, Richard, Meine Gärten (Berlin, 1897), 123Google Scholar: “Above meadows and fog / Breaks sleepily the day. / No welcoming larksong, / Only the clashing of cavalry sabers / And the dragging of tired hooves / On a hard and broken road. / Legs and dreams sluggish … / Out of the distance, a prophecy of doom.”

23 Schaukal, Richard, “Ausfahrt,” in Das Buch der Tage und Träume, rev. ed. (1899; Leipzig, 1902), 7Google Scholar: “Farewell, you garden breezes, / suffused with the scent of violet and mild. / Our hair is without fragrance, / we have a sword on our hips: / sound the sword on the shield.”

24 Although his sample reaches beyond 1908—the year that brought the Expressionist breakthrough and, for most scholars, the close of the “fin de siècle”—Armin A. Wallas responds to some now conventional readings of the garden in “Ort des paradiesischen Lebens und Ort der Verwüstung. Das Bild des Gartens in der österreichischen Literatur der Jahrhundertwende,” Protokolle 1 (1991): 7394.Google Scholar

25 Rilke, Rainer Maria, review of Ausgewählte GedichteGoogle Scholar, by Schaukal, Richard, Die Zukunft 51 (1905): 3940.Google Scholar

26 Schaukal, Richard, Ausgewählte Gedichte (Leipzig, 1904), 93Google Scholar: “Mount my horse, test his / stride / along the covered path in the park next to the castle rid- / ing.” Some editions of Schaukal's poetry use a dot stop, rather than a comma, to indicate a clausal break. This practice has been reproduced here.

27 Ibid.: “Look, it pays attention / the animal knows that I am talking about it.”

28 Ibid.: “Look how proudly and happily it laughs / I rode the horse to much hunting / to many feuds.”

29 Hermand, Jost, “Gralsmotive um die Jahrhundertwende,” in Von Mainz nach Weimar (1793–1919) (Stuttgart, 1969), 269–97.Google Scholar

30 For the genesis of this work, see the three versions and documentation collected in Simon, Walter, Rainer Maria Rilke. Die Weise von Liebe und Tod. Texte und Dokumente (Frankfurt, 1974).Google Scholar On Rilke's noble self-understanding, see Simenauer, Erich, Rainer Maria Rilke. Legende und Mythos (Frankfurt, 1953), 383414.Google Scholar

31 For the literary and cultural context of Der Gral, see Leroy, Robert, “Der Gral. Aus den Anfängen einer katholischen Literaturzeitschrift,” Tijdschrift voor Levende/Revue des Langues Vivantes 25, no. 1 (1979): 2953.Google Scholar

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33 Doppler, Bernhard, “‘Ich habe diesen Krieg immer sozusagen als meinen Krieg angesehen’. Der katholische Kulturkritiker Richard von Kralik (1852–1934)Google Scholar,” in Österreich und der groβe Krieg, ed. Amann and Lengauer, 97.Google Scholar

34 Schaukal, , Ausgewählte Gedichte, 40Google Scholar: “Higher workings silently disposed / Enemies frankly shown the colors / Noble goal in the distance. / Hold my eyes and heart open, / Lord, my God, and let me learn / From pain as from pleasure!”

35 Bourdieu, Pierre, The Logic of Practice, trans. Nice, Richard (Cambridge, Eng., 1990), 70.Google Scholar

36 See Mosse, George L., Nationalism and Sexuality: Respectability and Abnormal Sexuality in Modern Europe (Madison, 1985)Google Scholar, and Mosse, , The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity, Studies in the History of Sexuality Series (New York, 1996).Google Scholar

37 Procházka, Arnošt, Literární siluety a Studie (1905; reprint, Prague, 1912), 93.Google Scholar

38 Schaukal, Richard, Sehnsucht (Munich, 1900), 17Google Scholar: “Armored I ride from you, locking behind me / the gates, / the morning heralds its red return. / Watches me from its distant gazing gallery, / the first arrows of the sun hit my naked shield.”

39 Schaukal, , Ausgewählte Gedichte, 83Google Scholar: “His helmet bears a smooth edge / his armor is of black steel / his horse has eyes like rubies / his look shot through me like a ray.”

40 Ibid., 80: “Oh, if only I were already riding in battle vestments / to win for myself a fair wife.”

41 Schaukal, Richard, Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Andreas von Balthesser eines Dandy und Dilettanten (Munich, 1907), 25, 98.Google Scholar

42 Herzog, Wilhelm, review of Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Andreas von BalthesserGoogle Scholar, by Schaukal, Richard, Neue Revue 1 (1908): 839–4.Google Scholar

43 Poppenberg, Felix, review of Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Andreas von BalthesserGoogle Scholar, by Schaukal, Richard, Neue Deutsche Rundschau 18 (1907): 1015.Google Scholar

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45 Blei, Franz, “Drei Briefe an einen jungen Mann,” Hyperion 1 (2 vols.) (1907), 2:88.Google Scholar

46 Schaukal, , Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Andreas von Balthesser, 143.Google Scholar

47 Pynsent, Robert B., Questions of Identity: Czech and Slovak Ideas of Nationality and Personality (London, 1994), 108.Google Scholar

48 Blei, , “Drei Briefe,” 88.Google Scholar

49 Quoted in Handler, Andrew, Dori: The Life and Times of Theodor Herzl in Budapest (1860–1878) (University, Ala., 1983), 42.Google Scholar For a study of Herzl suggesting that those talks on the street did not last long and that the sexuality of Herzl, in fact, had something in common with that of the woman-hating dandy, see Loewenberg, Peter, “Theodor Herzl: Nationalism and Politics,” in Decoding the Past (New York, 1983), 101–35.Google Scholar

50 Auernheimer, Raoul, “Beard of the Prophet,” Herzl Year Book 6 (19641965): 76.Google Scholar

51 Goldhammer, Leo, “Theodor Herzl and Sigmund Freud,” Theodor Herzl Jahrbuch (Vienna), 1937, 268.Google Scholar For a more recent perspective, see Falk, Avner, “Freud and Herzl,” Midstream 23, no. 1 (1977): 324.Google ScholarPubMed

52 Zweig, Stefan, “King of the Jews,” Herzl Year Book 3 (1960): 110.Google Scholar

53 Zweig, Arnold, “The Emergence of Theodor Herzl,” in Theodor Herzl: A Memorial, ed. Weisgal, Meyer W. (New York, 1929), 298.Google Scholar

54 See Berkowitz, Michael, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry before the First World War (Cambridge, Eng., 1993), 135.Google Scholar

55 Prestel, Claudia T., “Frauen und die Zionistische Bewegung (1897–1933). Tradition oder Revolution?Historische Zeitschrift 258 (1994): 68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

56 Elon, Amos, Herzl (New York, 1975)Google Scholar; Pawel, Ernst, The Labyrinth of Exile: A Life of Theodor Herzl (New York, 1989)Google Scholar; Stewart, Desmond, Theodor Herzl: Artist and Politician (New York, 1974).Google Scholar

57 Herzl, , Briefe und Tagebücher, 1:159.Google Scholar

58 Beller, Steven, Herzl, Jewish Thinkers Series (New York, 1991), 10. See also 71–74.Google Scholar

59 Beller, Steven, Vienna and the Jews, 1867–1938: A Cultural History (Cambridge, Eng., 1989), 185–86.Google Scholar

60 The reception of Oscar Wilde in Austria is a complex one. For a view of “Wilde's iconographic role among the German-Jewish avant-garde as the essential outsider,” read Gilman, Sander, “Opera, Homosexuality, and Models of Disease: Richard Strauss's Salome in the Context of Images of Disease in the Fin de Siècle,” in Disease and Representation: Images of Illness from Madness to AIDS (Ithaca, N.Y., 1988), 155–81.Google Scholar

61 On the “neglected facet of the Jewish experience: assimilation with the upper classes, particularly the nobility,” see Godsey, William D. Jr., “The Nobility, Jewish Assimilation, and the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service in the Late Imperial Era,” Austrian History Yearbook 27 (1996): 155–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

62 See McCagg, William O. Jr., Jewish Nobles and Geniuses in Modern Hungary (Boulder, Colo., 1972).Google Scholar

63 Recent research has credited the significant Jewish engagement in the uprisings of 1848 with the later rapid assimilation of Jews to Viennese modes of behavior; see McCagg, William O. Jr., A History of Habsburg Jews, 1670–1918 (Bloomington, Ind., 1989), 9697Google Scholar; and Wistrich, Robert, The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph (Oxford, 1989), 2937.Google Scholar

64 Wassermann, Jakob, Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude (Berlin, 1921), 102–3.Google Scholar The translation is based on that of Brainin, S. N. (My Life as a German and Jew [New York, 1933], 186–87).Google Scholar

65 Kraus, Karl, “Eine Krone für Zion,” Frühe Schriften, ed. Braakenburg, Joh. J., 2 vols. (Munich, 1979), 2:312.Google Scholar

66 On Kraus's “unconditional belief in assimilation,” see Wistrich, Robert, “Karl Kraus: Jewish Prophet or Renegade?European Judaism 9, no. 2 (1975): 34.Google Scholar For a recent restatement, see Rider, Jacques Le, Modernity and Crises of Identity: Culture and Society in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna, trans. Morris, Rosemary (Cambridge, Eng., 1993), 254.Google Scholar

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68 Rossbacher, Karlheinz, Literatur und Liberalismus. Zur Kultur der Ringstraβenzeit in Wien (Vienna, 1992), 135–36, 417–18.Google Scholar

69 On the role of the aristocracy in Schnitzler, see Schwarz, Egon, “Arthur Schnitzler und die Aristokratie,” in Arthur Schnitzler in neuer Sicht, ed. Scheible, Hartmut (Munich, 1981), 5470.Google Scholar

70 Schnitzler, Arthur, Der Weg ins Freie, vol. 4 of Das erzählerische Werk (Frankfurt, 1978), 1416.Google Scholar

71 Herzl, Theodor, Der Judenstaat. Theodor Herzl oder der Moses des Fin de Siècle, ed. Dethloff, Klaus (Vienna, 1986), 186259.Google Scholar

72 Herzl, , Briefe und Tagebücher, 2: 225.Google Scholar

73 Kurrein, Adolf, Dr. Herd's Grab. Nachruf, gehalten von Dr. Ad. Kurrein (Brünn, 1904?); emphasis in original.Google Scholar

74 Herzl, , Briefe und Tagebücher, 2:70, 128.Google Scholar

75 Gilman, Sander, Jewish Self-Hatred (Ithaca, N.Y., 1986), 239.Google Scholar

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77 Boyer, John W., Political Radicalism in Late Imperial Vienna (Chicago, 1981), 235.Google Scholar

78 Beller, , Herzl, 36Google Scholar; see also Herzl, , Briefe und Tagebücher, 2:92.Google Scholar

79 Schorske, Carl E., Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (New York, 1981), 148.Google Scholar

80 See Gilman, , Jewish Self-HatredGoogle Scholar; see also Robertson, Ritchie, “The Problem of ‘Jewish Self-Hatred’ in Herzl, Kraus and Kafka,” Oxford German Studies 16 (1985): 8692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

81 Quoted in Gaisbauer, Adolf, Davidstern und Doppeladler. Zionismus und jüdischer Nationalismus in Österreich 1882–1918 (Vienna, 1988), 424–25.Google Scholar

82 von Doderer, Heimito, Die Strudlhofstiege oder Melzer und die Tiefe der Jahre (1951; reprint, Vienna, 1993), 260–61Google Scholar: “Sie haben etwas sehr Stoßkräftiges, diese Genicke, sie erinnern durch ihre rasierte Glätte an ein Knie, in der Funktion dem bewußten Ellenbogen nicht unverwandt.… Mitunter geschieht das jedoch erst, wenn sie einem den Rücken drehen (was sie gut können), und da erkennt man's erst recht, mit wem man es zu tun hatte—wenn man das Genick sieht: ach so, aha.… Aber hierin liegt eben der Kniff und Trick jener Genickler: man sieht ihr eigentliches Gesicht erst, wenn sie sich abgewandt haben, also zu spät, jedenfalls beim ersten Zusammentreffen viel zu spät und wenn es schon vorbei ist. Sie tragen ihr Gesicht rückwärts.”

83 Herzl, , Briefe und Tagebücher, 2:539.Google Scholar For a perspective on this episode that emphasizes Herzl's state-building aspirations, see Beller, Steven, “Herzl's Tannhäuser: The Redemption of Artist as Politician,” in Austrians and Jews in the Twentieth Century: From Franz Joseph to Waldheim, ed. Wistrich, Robert S. (New York, 1992), 3857.Google Scholar

84 Schaukal, , Vom Geschmack, 171.Google Scholar

85 The relationship between the conceptual pair “aesthetic culture” and “aristocratic culture” is in dire need of mediation and investigation in the work of Carl Schorske. Aristocratic behavior seems to be synonymous with a mostly vague kind of aesthetic refinement, yet, in the case of Schaukal and Herzl here, refinement is precisely an energetic and forceful response; Schorske, , Fin-de-Siècle Vienna.Google Scholar

86 Barea, Ilsa, Vienna (New York, 1966), 321.Google Scholar

87 Redlich, Josef, Schicksalsjahre Österreichs 1908–1919. Das politische Tagebuch Josef Redlichs, ed. Fellner, Fritz, 2 vols. (Graz, 1953), 2:27.Google Scholar

88 It should be noted that Herzl did, at times, profess admiration for the figure of the Prussian nobleman. That the fiercely self-reliant, rural, and pious Junker embodied the practical aspirations of the cosmopolitan Herzl is, however, doubtful. Indeed, as Max Weber used to argue, it was precisely due to Junker forms of socialibility that, in contrast to their German-Austrian neighbors, Germans had never been fully formed as aristocrats. Weber, Max, Gesamtausgabe, vol. 15Google Scholar: Zur Politik im Weltkrieg. Schriften und Reden 1914–1918, ed. Mommsen, Wolfgang J. (Tübingen, 1984), pt. 1, 347–96.Google Scholar For more on Herzl's understanding of the aristocrat, see the important recent work of Kornberg, Jacques, Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism (Bloomington, Ind., 1993).Google Scholar

89 Herzl, Theodor, Das neue GhettoGoogle Scholar, in Der Judenstaat, ed. Dethloff, 94–155. See also Herzl, Theodor, “Compagniearbeit. Lustspiel in einem Act,” Wallishausser'scher Theater-Katalog 10 (1880): 26.Google Scholar

90 Mosse, , The Image of Man, 63.Google Scholar