A Nervous
Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 - Frederic Morton
This popular history tells the sad story of
Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera, but also describes the ups and downs of
Viennese luminaries such as Theodor Herzl, Emperor Franz Joseph, Gustav Klimt, Johann
Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo Wolf, Sigmund Freud, Johannes
Brahms and Anton Bruckner not to mention the horrible Kaiser Wilhelm and Rudolf
Schonerer. Especially interesting is the author’s overview of cultural malaise
of
fin de siècle Vienna. The author
is first a novelist, so the literary touches may trouble lovers of footnotes
and skeptics who ask “How do you know what he was thinking.” But the pleasant
style and lively anecdotes are easy to read on a summer day, if that is one’s
mood. This was rated as one of 10 best books about the Austro-Hungarian Empire
in that cool
Top 10
series by the Guardian. Any reader looking to broaden her cultural knowledge
will be pleased by this book.
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