Citation

Pál J. Neohelicon 2018; 45(1): 1-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018)

DOI

10.1007/s11059-018-0432-2

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the late 19th century, Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, undertook to strengthen, on the basis of scholarly principles, the weakened inner cohesion of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and publish a 20 volume series, in German and in Hungarian, "The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in word and picture", or "Kronprinzenwerk" ("The Crown Prince's Work"), as it was known. The series attempted to provide scientific argumentation to prove the spiritual unity of the peoples living in Central Europe and their difference from other groups. After the volumes were published, as a result of monumental changes that occurred in the early 20th century, new literatures were born in Central and Eastern Europe, the old ones entered a new phase and the highest levels of world literature. The last representatives of the era, however, did not follow the earlier examples and the collectivism and shared homeland consciousness suggested by the Monarchy and turned towards subjectivism. They uncovered previously untouched depths of the soul and of language in their works, fighting old age, death, suicide, fear, depression, inexpressibility, and the feeling of helplessness. © 2018, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.

Language: en

Keywords

Crisis; Ethos; Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; Climate effect; Multilingual literature