Schnitzler's century

By Peter Gay

Subjects: Literary criticism, Mittelstand, Europe, civilization, history, Europe, intellectual life, History, Middle class, europe, Bürgertum, Civilization, modern, 20th century, Europe, social life and customs, Cultuurgeschiedenis, Civilisation, Civilization, modern, 19th century, Schnitzler, Arthur, 1862-1931, Schnitzler, arthur, 1862-1931, Kultur, Middle class, Middle classes, Vie intellectuelle, Nineteenth century, Social life and customs, Manners and customs, Intellectual life, European, Burgerij, Modern Civilization, New York Times reviewed, Bourgeoisie, Europa, Moeurs et coutumes, Civilization

Description: Schnitzler's Century reassesses nineteenth-century history and traces the dramatic rise of the middle class. We have always believed that corseted Queen Victoria defined the mores of the nineteenth century. Yet cultural historian Peter Gay asserts in this work that it is the sexually emboldened Viennese playwright, Arthur Schnitzler, who provides a better symbol for the age. Challenging many sacrosanct notions about middle-class prudery and hypocrisy, he shows that in important ways, the Victorians were not Victorians. Gay chronicles the rise of modernity in countries as diverse as Germany and Italy, England and the United States, and in doing so presents a century filled with science and superstition, revolutionaries and reactionaries, and eros and anxiety -- an age that made us largely what we are today. - Publisher.