Welttheater
Hofmannsthal, Richard von Kralik, and the Revival of Catholic Drama in Austria, 1890-1934
Judith Beniston
Buy paperback at: | Bithell Series of Dissertations 23 MHRA Texts and Dissertations 46 W. S. Maney & Son Ltd for the Modern Humanities Research Association and the Institute of Germanic Studies 1 January 1998 • 294pp ISBN: 978-0-901286-84-0 (paperback) • RRP £25, $40 Hugo von Hofmannsthal had a lifelong fascination with the theatrum mundi topos. Judith Beniston analyses his changing responses to it against an unfamiliar backdrop - the revival of Catholic drama which, from the 1890s onwards, accompanied the rise of Austria's Christian Social party. The solipsism of `Jung Wien' and the conservative modernism of the Salzburg Festival are juxtaposed with the career of Richard von Kralik (1852-1934), the key figure in Austria's Catholic literary culture from 1890 to 1934. This study offers close readings of Das kleine Welttheater and Das Salzburger große Welttheater, and explores the ramifications of the fascination with the notion of Welttheater which Hofmannsthal and Kralik shared. In juxtaposing elite and popular culture, Beniston sheds new light on a neglected aspect of Austrian cultural history, on the selectivity of Hofmannsthal's approach towards Austria's Baroque tradition, and on the difficulties he faced in his attempt to assimilate his own work into it. Bibliography entry: Beniston, Judith, Welttheater: Hofmannsthal, Richard von Kralik, and the Revival of Catholic Drama in Austria, 1890-1934, Bithell Series of Dissertations, 23 (Cambridge: MHRA, 1998) First footnote reference: 35 Judith Beniston, Welttheater: Hofmannsthal, Richard von Kralik, and the Revival of Catholic Drama in Austria, 1890-1934, Bithell Series of Dissertations, 23 (Cambridge: MHRA, 1998), p. 21. Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Beniston, p. 47. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) Bibliography entry: Beniston, Judith. 1998. Welttheater: Hofmannsthal, Richard von Kralik, and the Revival of Catholic Drama in Austria, 1890-1934, Bithell Series of Dissertations, 23 (Cambridge: MHRA) Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Beniston 1998: 21). Example footnote reference: 35 Beniston 1998: 21. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) This title was first published by W. S. Maney & Son Ltd for the Modern Humanities Research Association and the Institute of Germanic Studies but rights to it are now held by Modern Humanities Research Association and the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies. This title is now out of print. Permanent link to this title: www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Welttheater www.mhra.org.uk/publications/bsd-23 |
