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Introduction | 9
Namely, it reconceives the discourse regarding expressions of Jewishness. By do-
ing so, I also link my discussion to recent trends in Jewish studies—for example,
the spatial turn. I accomplish this through close readings of a specifi
c selection of
theatrical works that were both very well-known and highly esteemed in turn-of-
the-century Vienna.
In the fi
fth and fi
nal chapter, I summarize the characteristics of Jewish self-
understanding that I highlight throughout this study and evaluate them within
the historical context of the antisemitism prevalent at the time. In doing so, I
focus on how Jewish Volkssänger treated in their plays the stereotypical “Jewish”
way of speaking (jiddeln), as w
ell as specifi
c physical traits often attributed to
Jews. Other questions that arise as a result of my analysis include the role of the
Jewish religion in the consciousness of Jewish Volkssänger and impresarios, as well
as the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish operators in Viennese popular
culture. Within this framework, I present the new cultural-theoretical concept
of similarity. Its innovative dimension lies in the rigorous rejection of dichot-
omous approaches to describing human interactions or cultural comparisons.
Th
e concept of similarity deals with congruences and commonalities between
two comparable subjects without obscuring diff
erences between them. Similarity
thus proves to be a considerably fruitful analytical tool for exploring Jewish and
non-Jewish relationships and interactions.
Notes
1. Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt [IWE in subsequent citations] 358 (31 January 1900): 2–3.
2. Neues Wiener Tagblatt 251 ( 10 September 1904): 5–6.
3. Bruno Frei, Jüdisches Elend in Wien: Bilder und Daten (Vienna/Berlin: R. Löwit, 1920),
41–60.
4. “Eine Pesthöhle,” Deutsches Volksblatt 3712 (4 May 1899): 6.
5. IWE 8 (8 January 1904): 3.
6. IWE 8 (8 Janaury 1901): 7.
7. Th e assertion that the Katz incident was a cultural pattern is reinforced by other suicide
attempts that were almost exactly identical to this one. In this context, it is worth men-
tioning the additional example of auxiliary worker Karoline Birk’s suicide attempt. At the
end of November 1902, Birk intended to jump from the Brigittabrücke with her four
children. She had a sick husband, who had previously worked as a merchant, and lived in
squalor. Like Anna Katz, Karoline Birk had already sold most of her furniture in order to
buy food for her children. A watchman who heard the children’s crying ultimately pre-
vented the suicide (see IWE 326 [28 November 1902]: 2; and IWE 327 [29 November
1902]: 4).
8. Mitchell B. Hart, Social Science and the Politics of Modern Jewish Identity (Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press, 2000), 132. It is beyond the scope of this study to determine
whether social predicaments actually contribute to a suicide attempt or whether it is in-
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Entangled Entertainers
Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
- Titel
- Entangled Entertainers
- Untertitel
- Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
- Autor
- Klaus Hödl
- Verlag
- Berghahn Books
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-78920-031-7
- Abmessungen
- 14.86 x 23.2 cm
- Seiten
- 196
- Kategorien
- Geschichte Vor 1918
- International
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Introduction 1
- 1. Jews in Viennese Popular Culture around 1900 as Research Topic 13
- 2. Jewish Volkssänger and Musical Performers in Vienna around 1900 44
- 3. Jewishness and the Viennese Volkssänger 78
- 4. Jewish Spaces of Retreat at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 121
- 5. From Difference to Similarity 148
- Conclusion 163
- Bibliography 166
- Index 179