Synopses & Reviews
A landmark book from one of the truly original scholars of our time: a magnificent revelation of turn-of-the-century Vienna where out of a crisis of political and social disintegration so much of modern art and thought was born.
"Not only is it a splendid exploration of several aspects of early modernism in their political context; it is an indicator of how the discipline of intellectual history is currently practiced by its most able and ambitious craftsmen. It is also a moving vindication of historical study itself, in the face of modernism's defiant suggestion that history is obsolete."
-- David A. Hollinger, History Book Club Review
"Each of [the seven separate studies] can be read separately....Yet they are so artfully designed and integrated that one who reads them in order is impressed by the book's wholeness and the momentum of its argument."
-- Gordon A. Craig, The New Republic
"A profound work...on one of the most important chapters of modern intellectual history" -- H.R. Trevor-Roper, front page, The New York Times Book Review
"Invaluable to the social and political historian...as well as to those more concerned with the arts" -- John Willett, The New York Review of Books
"A work of original synthesis and scholarship. Engrossing."
-- Newsweek
Review
"The book that Susan Ingram and Markus Reisenleitner have coauthored is a masterpiece which isnand#8217;t afraid to own up to its scholarly rigor. Equally satisfying to the coffee table book skimmer as it will be to the serious student of fashion and history,and#160;Wiener Chic: a Locational History of Vienna Fashionand#160;is a book that attempts to expose the preconditions of history which have given rise to the dynamism of Vienna fashion."
Synopsis
Vienna may not be a city of fashion per se, but it is a fashionable city, a city which historically has been structured by changing fashions and fashionable appearances, by the tortured yet glittering faand#231;ades of personalities and buildings. Like the Litfaand#223;sand#228;ule in Orson Wellesand#8217;s 1949 urban noir masterpiece The Third Man, which Harry Lime escapes into to avoid capture and the hapless visitor presumes are merely surfaces for advertising, and like the stolen letter left prominently on display in Poeand#8217;s short story, Vienna can now afford to wear its charms on its sleeve, confident they wonand#8217;t be recognized. By focusing on fashion, Wiener Chic renarrates Viennaand#8217;s history to bring this process of purloining into relief. It takes the material dimension of urban imaginaries seriously and mobilizes fashion as a structure of visibility that can direct the critical gaze at revealing aspects of the urban fabric from faand#231;ades to festivals.
Synopsis
Vienna may not be synonymous with fashion like its metropolitan counterparts Paris and Milan, but it is a fashionable city, one that historically has been structured by changing fashions and fashionable appearances. Like the
Litfaand#223;sand#228;ule in Orson Wellesand#8217;s 1949 urban noir masterpieceand#160;
The Third Man, into which Harry Lime escapes in order to avoid capture and which hapless visitors today presume are merely surfaces for advertising, there are many overlooked aspects of Viennaand#8217;s distinct style and attitude. By focusing on fashion,and#160;
Wiener Chicand#160;narrates Viennaand#8217;s history through an interpretation of the material dimensions of Viennese cultural lifeand#151;from architecture to arts festivals to the urban fabric of street chic.
The first book that connects Vienna and fashion with urban theory,and#160;Wiener Chicand#160;draws on material that is virtually unknown in an English-language context to give readers an insiderand#8217;s vantage point on an underappreciated European fashion capital.
Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
About the Author
and#160;
Susan Ingram is associate professor of humanities at York University.Markus Reisenleitner
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction
I. Politics and the Psyche: Schnitzler and Hofmannstahl
II. The Ringstrasse, Its Critics, and the Birth of Urban Modernism
III. Politics in a New Key: An Austrian Trio
IV. Politics and Patricide in Freuds Interpretation of Dreams
V. Gustav Klimt: Painting and the Crisis of the Liberal Ego
VI. The Transformation of the Garden
VII. Explosions in the Garden: Kokoschka and Schoenberg
Index