Tropics of Vienna

Colonial Utopias of the Habsburg Empire

Ulrich E. Bach

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781800730144, 9781785331329
• eBook ISBN: 9781785331336
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: Literature

The Austrian Empire was not a colonial power in the sense that fellow actors like 19th-century England and France were. It nevertheless oversaw a multinational federation where the capital of Vienna was unmistakably linked with its eastern periphery in a quasi-colonial arrangement that inevitably shaped the cultural and intellectual life of the Habsburg Empire. This was particularly evident in the era's colonial utopian writing, and Tropics of Vienna blends literary criticism, cultural theory, and historical analysis to illuminate this curious genre. By analyzing the works of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Theodor Herzl, Joseph Roth, and other representative Austrian writers, it reveals a shared longing for alternative social and spatial configurations beyond the concept of the "nation-state" prevalent at the time.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch: Utopian Periphery
• 2. Lazar von Hellenbach: Utopia or Theosophy
• 3. Theodor Hertzka: Seeking Emptiness
• 4. Theodor Herzl: Vienna in Palestine
• 5. Robert Müller: Anti-Exoticism, and Joseph Roth: Finis Austriae
• Index