A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889

In 1888, author Morton's grandfather Mandelbaum founded the family company in Vienna (which ran until the deluge of barbarians swept over Austria in the 1930s). A few months later, January 1889, Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide. The book is about a few months in 88/89; the author's family plays no part in it, other than as an anchor of personal interest.Vienna was the centre of the Habsburg Empire. It was a cultural capital of the world, and at the same time a hotbed of backwardness and anti-modernity.The book is an entertaining walk through the time. It gives us a short summary of the Habsburg history and a short biography of the unfortunate Crown Prince, Sisi's son.We also meet a wealth of cultural players, some of whom have become icons: Klimt, Hugo Wolf, Schoenberg, Bruckner, Schnitzler, Herzl, Mahler, Freud, Brahms, Johann Strauss are put into the frame of the time and in the stage of their careers at the time.The ruling class is the aristocracy, while the bourgeoisie never managed to acquire the status that it did in other metropolises. There is a nascent movement of fervent Anti-Semitism, associated with a man called Schönerer, clearly a precursor to the movement later led by Hitler, who is about to be born at this time, elsewhere in Austria, and whose manifesto Mein Kampf will show clear traces of influence.Other political trends of the time: the growing nationalisms of the empire's components, i.e. the Czechs, the Croats, the Slovenes etc etc. This added fire to the latent conflict between the liberal Crown Prince and the young German Kaiser, who despised his Austrian peers as sissies, while he courted Russia and prepared to axe experienced Bismarck as his chief aide... (It may not be widely known that a country called Austria with the current boundaries never existed until after WW1. What was called Austria in the Austrian and Hungarian Double Monarchy was not a country but the ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs, the House of Austria. As a territory, Austria meant the whole of Kakania minus Hungary. Austria also existed as Upper or Lower Austria, provinces which did not add up to the total of what became the Republic of Austria. What is now Austria was known as the territory of the Germans in Austria. A latent conflict between the ruling houses of Habsburg and the Hohenzollern of Prussia included the specter that the German speakers would choose to accede to the German Empire.)Rudolf was a colorful and ambitious man. He was at the threshold of high office, yet rendered entirely powerless by emasculating controls and by a cold father. He was a closet liberal, who wrote anonymous newspaper articles. He was unhappy. His father was distant, his mother Sisi not interested, his wife Stephanie neither. His fateful encounter was Mary Vetsera, an ambitious social climber, for whom the author has nil sympathies.In the end, Rudolf will kill her and then himself. Vienna was the suicide capital of Europe at the time. This particular suicide had immeasurable consequences for European alliances.The book is beautifully illustrated, and the illustrations work well even in the pocket book edition (Penguin) that I am using.My mission in life is finding errors. Here is one by Morton: when Kaiser Wilhelm II visits Vienna in 1888, Morton has the black-red-golden flag raised. Wrong. That was the flag proposed by the failed parliamentarian revolution of 1848. It became official in Germany only with Weimar and then with the Bundesrepublik after WW2.

Overall I enjoyed this book well enough to finish it, which I typically won't unless I think it worthwhile, and I was intrigued enough to purchase and begin reading the sequel, Thunder and Twilight, which takes place more than 20 years later.I won't give any spoilers, although there really are few to betray. The book introduces several important figures of Fin-de-siècle Vienna. Persons of Viennese, Austrian, and international cultural renown are introduced in an isolated form, in such a way that suggests, from previous readings and viewings of films, that the figures fates will tie together by the end. For the most part, I felt this did not happen or did not happen significantly. But that is history as it was, I suppose, and perhaps my expectations as they were, not an issue with the writing.Suffice to say, notables such as Johann Strauss II, Gustav Klimt, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Kaiser Franz Josef II and others share the spotlight Morton casts increasingly on Crown Prince Rudolph and, to a lesser extent, his young mistress, Mary Vetsera. That, I felt, was much of the shape of the book: a work of only supporting characters that eventually and increasingly focused around a particular plotline, the Mayerling incident. This is not a bad thing, in and of itself. Only the description left me hoping for a bit more with regard to the" interweaving of their fates."As Morton's historical narrative focuses more on the Crown Prince, I felt the writing was more compelling. Although parts of the book were at times dry, other parts were sweeping in their descriptions of both an aesthetic nostalgia of the famous city's facades as well as presenting an intriguing sociopolitical climate and the crux weighing on the Crown Prince. Indeed, A Nervous Splendor has provided fodder for my next, upcoming trip to Vienna as well as fueled an increased interest in this period of the city's history, especially upon consideration of how seemingly isolated events can send small ripples throughout space and time and affect the world so dramatically, if not tragically.I recommend this book to folks with an affinity for learning (more) about Vienna in the late 1800s but also, perhaps, those with an affinity for World War I history, the latter of which I have lacked until reading this book but have since been intrigued by it because of it. However, this book is not a great choice if a person is only going to read one non-fiction book to learn about Vienna during this time period. I say this because although it is well researched, much of the book's details are relatively mundane, as they should be. It reads almost like a novel at times. While this is enjoyable, it's not particularly fact-dense in an academic sense. So it may also appeal to those who are otherwise put off by more traditional, historical tomes.

This was a fascinating and amazing look through the windows of history. Morton brings the era to life and examines an incredible set of political and social circumstances. If he is to be criticized for anything it is that his profound depth of research sometimes interferes with the impact of the story's detail and flow. Would heartily recommend this for any lover of history and politics.

世紀末ウィーンは過去か現在か未来か。戦争に負け込み、民族主義勃興に困り果て、ヒスマルクにハブにされ、国民国家形成時代に「コスモポリタン文化大国」を標榜せざる得なかったハプスブルク帝国とその魂の首都ウィーン。各分野で偉大な天才と迷惑な天才を大量発生させ、二十世紀を作り、EU思想を誕生させてしまったという点で二十一世紀をも現在進行形で作っている。EUというのは頭はアメリカで心はウィーンで体はドイツなのか。本書はタイトル通り1888年から1889年の二年間を切り取った一冊。建物ばかりは威容を誇るウィーンはしかし、地方流入の貧民で溢れ、貴族も実は借金だらけで弱体化していた。一方でアシュケナージユダヤ人が集まり、知能と感性が異常膨張状態にもあった。本書、様々な人物が往来してはいるが、中心に据えられるのは謎の情死を遂げたルドルフ皇太子なので、興味のある方には堪らないのかもしれないが、私は個人的に「へー、こういう人だったのか」程度で終わってしまった。憂愁のインテリ青年だったらしい。これではビスマルクやフランツ・ヨーゼフのような怪物ジジイどもには適わないような気がする。しかも「最愛の女性」との情死でもなさそうというか、「結構、誰でも良かった？」みたいな人選で十代少女と心中しているのだ。一人で死ねば良かったのに。著者は彼を世紀末ウィーンの不安と神経症の象徴のように描いており、それはそれでよろしいのだが、もっと他にオモロイ人々はいるじゃないの、と途中からやや退屈になった。ルドルフ皇太子を、間近に迫るハプスブルク帝国解体の先触れとするのも後世視点からの紋切型の視点ではなかろうか。後から振り返れば黒いカラスだって先触れに見えるのだ。本物の「先触れ」はおそらく近代科学を生み出す現場で胎動していたことであろう。とは言っても、文化史としては楽しいし、世紀末ウィーンの雰囲気を垣間見たい方、ハプスブルク王家に興味のある方などにはお薦め出来る一冊ではある。

Morton has written an interesting micro-history of Vienna over the twelve-month period 1888-89 which focuses primarily on the events leading up to the suicide at Mayerling of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and its aftermath. He uses his novelist's style to create a convincing atmosphere of an empire in its twilight years, weaving in vignettes of the lives of Brahms, Bruckner, Freud, Arthur Schnitzler and Theodor Herzl. While the aristocracy dance at endless carnival balls, the poor are near to starvation, and suicide amongst young males is on the increase, all of which has some topical relevance to the world today. Rudolf represents the shallowness of that world, wearing the most exquisite uniforms, performing his diplomatic duties faultlessly, but yearning to play a more meaningful role, which is denied him. His suicide is seen here as an act of despair and indeed the evidence presented seems to suggest that he was all too aware of the tensions that were building up within the Empire which eventually triggered the start of World War One.Simultaneously Morton provides evidence of increasing anti-Semitism and the desire of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to integrate all German-speaking lands. The book ends with the birth of Adolf Hitler, neatly bringing together many of these themes.While I enjoyed the portrait of Vienna that Morton creates, I found his novelist's style rather irritating as he uses several rhetorical flourishes that become tedious (a series of repeated phrases for example) and found it rather a lightweight history mostly noticeably in its absence of footnotes/endnotes citing sources, and lack of analysis. As an introduction to the period it works in that you are inclined to seek out a more serious history of this entire period.

Although I loved his book  Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914 , this book is even better. The writing is beautiful. Each sentence a masterpiece. And the story is moving and tragic. Tragic for the Crown Prince but also for history, in general. His last paragraph, the birth of little Adolph in Upper Austria, chilling.Again, Morton interweaves the stories of some of Vienna's most prominent citizens to tell the story of the city at a crucial turning point in its history. And the backdrop for all this is the murder-suicide of the Crown Prince Rudolph and his lover. Morton analyses Rudolph and his contemporaries to give us a picture of a Vienna on the crux of its demise. It is a city of archaic tradition yet pulsing with modernity underneath. Through all this we see a city heading toward disaster and an empire about to crumble.I can not recommend this book highly enough. Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914

A meander through Vienna and its prominent citizens in 1888/9. Of course the Mayerling incident looms large. A thorough description of its aftermath, particularly the shenanigans to get Rudolf a Catholic funeral whilst Mary was ditched in a hole. Will we ever get the truth? Doubt it. A well written book and recommended for those who are interested in Mittel Europa, Rudolf, Mayerling and the Habsburg Empire. Well worth a read.