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The Aesthetics of Horror
The Life and Thought of Richard von Kralik
Series: - Studies in Central European Histories, Volume: 29
Author:
Austrian-born Richard von Kralik (1852–1934), the so-called poet laureate of Christian Socialism, espoused such hauntingly familiar themes as the “Christian-Germanic ideal of beauty” and the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.” Kralik wielded the tool of propaganda for the Christian Socialists and realized the powerful draw of nationalism when couched in art, poetry, music, and literature. Although Kralik seems to have had no direct influence upon Adolf Hitler, his quest for “pure” German culture and his use of propaganda to achieve those ends share a marked resemblance to the tactics of the Third Reich. Professor Richard Geehr pays meticulous attention to historical detail, avails himself of all available sources, and assesses judiciously Richard von Kralik’s life and influence in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Austria.
Richard S. Geehr, Ph.D. (1973) in History, University of Massachusetts, is Professor of History at Bentley College, Massachusetts. He has published extensively on recent Austrian history, including
Karl Lueger, Mayor of Fin de Siècle Vienna (Wayne State University Press, 1990).
"This is a brief, well-illustrated book about one of the most deservedly forgotten, yet perversely fascinating,
völkischwriters of early twentieth-century Austria." – Roderick Stackelsberg,
Central European History, 2005.
"The attempt to provide an overview of Kralik's career is laudable, and especially the later chapters of Geehr's study, which draws extensively on the Nachlass, held in Vienna City Library, will be a useful resource. The Aesthetics of Horror is, indeed, a handsome and an accesible volume..." – Judith Beniston, Austrian Studies, 2005.
"The attempt to provide an overview of Kralik's career is laudable, and especially the later chapters of Geehr's study, which draws extensively on the Nachlass, held in Vienna City Library, will be a useful resource. The Aesthetics of Horror is, indeed, a handsome and an accesible volume..." – Judith Beniston, Austrian Studies, 2005.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Origins and Beginnings
2. Kralik vs. the “Modernists”
3. “Austria Will Last Forever”: Kralik as Protagonist in a Losing Cause
4. The Harvest Years: The Cultural Supremacist
5. “Anti-Semitism from a Very High Standpoint”
6. The Kralik Legacy
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Introduction
1. Origins and Beginnings
2. Kralik vs. the “Modernists”
3. “Austria Will Last Forever”: Kralik as Protagonist in a Losing Cause
4. The Harvest Years: The Cultural Supremacist
5. “Anti-Semitism from a Very High Standpoint”
6. The Kralik Legacy
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
All those interested in recent Austrian cultural and political history and the Austrian political right, academic libraries, specialists, students, and Holocaust pre-history.