Censorship in Austria 1795-1848

The book bans in Austria have been widely neglected with the exception of some studies of famous authors like Grillparzer, Lenau, or Nestroy whose works have been frequently censored. The fact that between 1795 and 1848 approximately 40.000 books, periodicals etc. have been banned by the Austrian government has not attracted due attention so far. The corpus of banned books shall first be analysed statistically; based on the empirical data interpretations of representative books will provide insights as to the reasons for bans. The research project is important for the study of literature in a narrow sense by shedding light on the official opinion on certain genres of novels, tales, dramas, or verse epics; moreover, the documentation covers areas like general history, the history of the press, medicine, the law, theology, education, and many others, as well. Apart from authors and works well known in cultural historiography, a whole `continent` of literature appearing very rarely in ordinary bibliography is waiting to be discovered. Thus, the lists of banned books will contribute to the study of the history of the book trade and readership in Austria. Last but not least, the interpretation of the lists of banned books is apt to yield insights into Austrian history and mentality in the 19th century and after. The opinion, often maintained by cultural historians, that Austria was isolated from Western European liberalism may be confirmed in more detail, but it may as well be refuted in certain respects.

Knowledge about censorship in nineteenth-century Austria has so far been based on rather selective data, anecdotes, and mere speculation, no matter if scholars tended to apologize censorship or to rely on black legends about the Metternich state. For the first time, the research project provides a solid empirical basis for an evaluation of censorship. The 45.000 titles on the lists of books banned in the period (containig above all books and periodicals from the fields of theology, philosophy, history, medicine and literature as well as manuscripts and music) have now ben accurately catalogued. The titles have been verified, revised, and classified in subjects, languages und genres such as book, periodical or article. In order to make the data available to the scientific community, especially to historians and literary critics, a data base is being established, it will soon be available via the project homepage on internet (http://uibk.ac.at/zensur). This homepage contains further informations about the project and various materials. In addition to the electronic data base, publication of the titles of banned books in print format is being prepared. Book bans mirror political history and the development of mentality in Austria. Between 1795 and 1805 the number of bans is rather big according to the fear of a revolution at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Franz II. (I.). The number of bans declines at the end of the wars against France and in the period of the Vienna Congress of 1815. Numbers are high again in the twenties after new measures against revolutionary literature as the Karlsbad legislation of 1819. During the Vormärz the level of bans remains stable, it reaches a peak only in 1847, one year before the revolution. Furthermore, book bans mirror the variety of languages in the Habsburg monarchy. Undoubtedly, German is by far in the lead, nevertheless the number of Italian titles is remarkable. Besides that, Polish and Ruthene books were banned in decisive number whereas Czech, Slovenian, and Croation titles are extremely scarce. Among the `foreign` languages French titles loom large whereas English books appear generally in German or French translations. Censors used two grades of prohibition, i. e. "damnatur", the formula which provided the total ban of a book, and "erga schedam", which granted readers the possibility of obtaining a certain book by way of a special license. Damnatur was used for books considered without value whatsoever, e. g. the popular stories of chivalry, bandits and ghosts. On the other hand, erga schedam was applied in the case of scientific books which were considered valuable but dangerous to the state, religion, or morals. This observation casts doubt on the common place according to which the sciences and political discussion were totally extinct during the period. These analyses and many more will be presented in a monograph prepared by the project director. In addition to statistical material, the monograph with the working title "Austrian Censorship 1795-1848" will contain detailed information on the censors involved, on the organisation of censorship, on censorship laws, etc. The look at the history of the suppression of scientific, religious and literary expressions of opinion may help to develop our consciousness of the problems of censorship and contribute to the recent discussion about new measures of the observation of citizens.