This thesis deals with the nowadays largely unknown Austrian author Raoul Auernheimer (1876-1948). It is an attempt at a presentation of his life and work, the main part dealing with four of his works, the play Talent (1900), the long story Laurenz Hallers Praterfahrt (1913), the novel Das Kapital (1923) and the autobiographical report Die Zeit im Lager (1939). My purpose is to investigate to what extent his works reflect time, Auernheimers life and the city of Vienna. An introductory chapter on life and work deals with the most important events in his life. It is clear, that he was one of the major personalities in the field of culture in Vienna before and after World War I and an outstanding intellectual who stood for democratic values. When he was 61 the Nazis forced him to leave Austria, after first having put him into the concentration camp Dachau for five months. He was then in exile in the USA where, in spite of a heart condition, he lived on for nine more years. A section on secondary literature and an almost complete catalogue of his works show their versatility, scope and scale. In this context, his significant role as a drama critic, journalist and essayist becomes evident. The city of Vienna is a central theme in the four works I examined and each date of origin (1900, 1913, 1923, 1939) is significant for the work itself. Work and date indicate radical changes in his literary production and constitute a step in the direction of becoming a person who thinks politically. However these changes meant very little to his literary style, which shows continuity. In his works he basically remains a Feuilletonist and playwright. More and more Auernheimer shows his solidarity with the vulnerable groups of society. This is conveyed indirectly, virtually through ‘participating observation‘. By each time describing conditions accurately and exactly, he criticizes current deficiencies. Concerning language it is apparent, that irony is important to his style. Since he views his world critically, he uses it to make social conditions clear. The style of the Feuilleton, in which linguistic brilliance and harmony of text are important components, is characteristic of this author. It is the style of the journalist and critic. Keywords: Raoul Auernheimer, continuity, change, life, work, journalist, critic, Talent, Laurenz Hallers Praterfahrt, Das Kapital, Die Zeit im Lager, time influence, social conditions, participating observation, criticism of current deficiencies, city of Vienna, style of the Feuilleton, irony Lennart Weiss, Department of Modern Languages, Box 636, Uppsala University, SE-751 26 Uppsala, Sweden © Lennart Weiss 2010
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-110097 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Weiss, Lennart |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Tyska, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för moderna språk, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral thesis, monograph, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Studia Germanistica Upsaliensia, 0585-5160 ; 54 |
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