The Naked Truth : Viennese Modernism and the Body

Viennese modernism is often described in terms of a fin-de-siècle fascination with the psyche. But this stereotype of the movement as essentially cerebral overlooks a rich cultural history of the body. __The Naked Truth__, an interdisciplinary tour de force, addresses this lacuna, fundamentally recasting the visual, literary, and performative cultures of Viennese modernism through an innovative focus on the corporeal. Alys X. George explores the modernist focus on the flesh by turning our attention to the second Vienna medical school, which revolutionized the field of anatomy in the 1800s. As she traces the results of this materialist influence across a broad range of cultural forms—exhibitions, literature, portraiture, dance, film, and more—George brings into dialogue a diverse group of historical protagonists, from canonical figures such as Egon Schiele, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, and Hugo von Hofmannsthal to long-overlooked ones, including author and doctor Marie Pappenheim, journalist Else Feldmann, and dancers Grete Wiesenthal, Gertrud Bodenwieser, and Hilde Holger.She deftly blends analyses of popular and “high” culture, laying to rest the notion that Viennese modernism was an exclusively male movement. __The Naked Truth__ uncovers the complex interplay of the physical and the aesthetic that shaped modernism and offers a striking new interpretation of this fascinating moment in the history of the West. Uncovers the interplay of the physical and the aesthetic that shaped Viennese modernism and offers a new interpretation of this moment in the history of the West. Viennese modernism is often described in terms of a fin-de-siècle fascination with the psyche. But this stereotype of the movement as essentially cerebral overlooks a rich cultural history of the body. The Naked Truth , an interdisciplinary tour de force, addresses this lacuna, fundamentally recasting the visual, literary, and performative cultures of Viennese modernism through an innovative focus on the corporeal. Alys X. George explores the modernist focus on the flesh by turning our attention to the second Vienna medical school, which revolutionized the field of anatomy in the 1800s. As she traces the results of this materialist influence across a broad range of cultural forms—exhibitions, literature, portraiture, dance, film, and more—George brings into dialogue a diverse group of historical protagonists, from canonical figures such as Egon Schiele, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, and Hugo von Hofmannsthal to long-overlooked ones, including author and doctor Marie Pappenheim, journalist Else Feldmann, and dancers Grete Wiesenthal, Gertrud Bodenwieser, and Hilde Holger. She deftly blends analyses of popular and "high" culture, laying to rest the notion that Viennese modernism was an exclusively male movement. The Naked Truth uncovers the complex interplay of the physical and the aesthetic that shaped modernism and offers a striking new interpretation of this fascinating moment in the history of the West. Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Note on Translations 12 Introduction 14 1. The Body on Display: Staging the Other, Shaping the Self 36 Science and Spectacle: “Exotic” Bodies on Display 38 Fictional Encounters? Peter Altenberg’s Ashantee (1897) 51 Somatic Utopias: Viennese Hygiene Exhibitions 57 Literary Life Reform: Peter Altenberg’s Pròdromos (1906) 69 Nature and Culture on Stage 76 2. The Body in Pieces: Viennese Literature’s Anatomies 81 Becoming the Blade: Vivisection as the Primal Scene 84 In the Dissecting Room: Arthur Schnitzler and Marie Pappenheim 88 Viennese Symptoms, Human Fragments: Joseph Roth’s Journalism 101 The Politics and Poetics of Viennese Corpses: Carry Hauser and Joseph Roth 114 Corpse as Capital: Ödön von Horváth’s Faith, Hope,and Charity (1932) 121 3. The Patient’s Body: Working-Class Women in the Clinic 128 Finding a Voice: The Poetics of Pregnancy (Marie Pappenheim and Ilka Maria Ungar) 133 Egon Schiele in the Clinic 140 In the Women’s Clinic: Architecture, Gaze, Film 153 Speaking for Suffering Mothers: Else Feldmann and Carry Hauser 162 The Politics and Public Visibility of Workers’ Bodies 169 4. The Body in Motion: Staging Silent Expression 181 Body Language and Crisis of Language 184 Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the Power of Pantomime 190 Self and Other: Exploring Identity through Free Dance 198 Making Modern Dance Viennese 207 Celluloid Gestures and the Cinematic Body 216 The Worker’s Body: Modern Dance, Machine Culture, and Social Democracy 227 Epilogue 242 Acknowledgments 250 Notes 254 Index 324 "In the popular imagination, turn-of-the-century Vienna is a cerebral place, marked by Freud, the discovery of the unconscious, and the advent of high modernist culture. But as historian Alys George argues, this stereotype of Viennese Modernism as essentially "heady" overlooks a rich cultural history of the body in the period. Spanning 1870 to 1930, The Naked Truth is an interdisciplinary tour de force that recasts the visual, literary, and performative cultures of the era and offers an alternative genealogy of this fascinating moment in the history of the West. Starting with the Second Vienna Medical School and its innovations in anatomy and pathology, George traces an emerging culture of bodily knowledge by analyzing a variety of written and visual media, including theater and dance, and by drawing connections between scientific and artistic discourses. Paying equal attention to both low and high culture, bringing gender and class issues back to the fore, and highlighting the role of female thinkers and writers, George's book makes a signal contribution to our understanding of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Viennese and European culture. The Naked Truth shows us that the "inward turn" cannot be understood until it is set against the backdrop of a culture obsessed with exploring and displaying humanity in its embodied, carnal form"-- Provided by publisher Viennese modernism is often described in terms of a fin-de-siècle fascination with the psyche. But this stereotype of the movement as essentially cerebral overlooks a cultural history of the body. This title, an interdisciplinary tour de force, addresses this lacuna, fundamentally recasting visual, literary, and performative cultures of Viennese modernism through an innovative focus on the corporeal. George explores the modernist focus on the flesh by turning our attention to the second Vienna medical school, which revolutionised the field of anatomy in the 1800s. As she traces the results of this materialist influence across a range of cultural forms, she brings into dialogue a diverse group of historical protagonists. Analyses are blended between popular and 'high' culture, laying to rest the notion that Viennese modernism was an exclusively male movement