Writint between Vormärz and Neoabsolutism: A.v. Tschabuschnigg

Though Adolph v.Tschabuschnigg (1809, Klagenfurt - 1877, Vienna) doesn`t range among the prominent authors of his time he can be considered an interesting figure having persued a specific carreer between literature, politics and public administration (covering the role of Minister of Justice in 1870/71). He further has established contacts to some important representatives of intellectual life before 1848. Being a precise observer of the contemporary debates, who was open to contemporary european literature and political discourses, Tschabuschnigg was able to present a remarkable literary ouevre which offers a lot of interesting typological aspects of literary production in Austria between Vormärz and Neoabsolutism. His texts relate to the complex relationship between author and public sphere; further we can study and analyze the importance of literary reception for the own production, the role of contemporary genres (travel account, novella, novel) and the relationship between conservative and innovative aspects and strategies. There is no doubt that T. was one of the first authors writing in german who was paying attention to the social, political and cultural changes and challenges like modernization, industrialization and the specific role of capitalism in modern society, class-conflicts und utopias, national discourse, various discourses of emancipation ect. Also from a present point of view a novel like Die Industriellen (1854, sec. ed. 1872) may be put among the most extraordinary and audacious compositions in his time, comparable to Dickens Hard Times. But even some later novels which seem to have an affinity to trivial and entertainment fiction are amazingly critical towards the dominant social system and order, quite in contrast to the conservative character of the author. The author then is accompanied and in a certain sense contrasted by the burocrat, politician and Minister. The opinions about this specific identity are quite disparate as shown in some contributions in the present volume: he is considered as a visionary reformer, as well as a loyal burocrat or a conservative administrator of the system and heritage which must be preserved. The present collection of essays based upon a symposium and following research attempts to enlighten this complex and contradictionary figure and to offer unpublished material for further research.