The Dedalus/Ariadne Book of Austrian Fantasy: The Meyrink Years 1890-1930 (European Literary Fantasy Anthologies)

The last years of the Habsburg monarchy saw a remarkable cultural flowering centered on Vienna and Prague: the music of Mahler and Schoenberg; the painting of Schiele, Klimt and Kokoschka; the work of Mach, Freud and Wittgenstein; the poetry of Rilke; the plays of Hofmannsthal; the stories of Kafka. One concern common to much of this work was to attack the nature of reality. and in this they prepared the way to fantasy, especially in the short story and the novel. This book explores this rich vein, with examples from the major writers as well as from the acknowledged masters of fantastic fiction, such as Gustav Meyrink, Karl Heinz Strobl, Paul Leppin. Leo Perutz, as well as Brod, Csokor and Werfel.