Wilde Enters the Viennese Stage
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Chapter 2 Curtain Up: Wilde Enters the Viennese Stage Except for his ideas on morality, [Wilde] was, in every respect, an old- fashioned Irish gentleman – old- fashioned in his Gautierism, in his gallantry, in his romanticism, in his patriotism, in his choice of dress, and in his custom of living beyond his means. Since Vienna is, after Paris, Europe’s most old- fashioned city and yet considers itself to be an enfant de son siècle par excellence, Oscar Wilde ought to be held in higher regard in Vienna than in any other German or English city. ([Wilde] war in jeder Hinsicht – von seinen Sittlichkeitsbegriffen abgesehen – ein unmoderner irischer Gentleman, unmodern in seinem Gautierismus, in seiner Ritterlichkeit, seiner Romantik, seinem Patriotismus, seiner gewählten Kleidung und in seiner Gewohnheit, über seine Verhältnisse zu leben. Und da Wien nach Paris die unmodernste Stadt Europas ist und sich dabei doch für ein ‘enfant de son siècle par excellence’ hält, so sollte Wien Oskar Wilde besser zu schätzen wissen, als er jemals irgendwo in Deutschland oder in England geschätzt werden wird. Bernard Shaw, in a review of Wilde’s De Profundis in Neue Freie Presse 23 April 1905) In 1892, Hermann Bahr once more affirmed his status as the chief propagator of modern European literature within the budding ‘Young Vienna’ movement by lending the young Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874– 1929) a copy of Intentions, Wilde’s collection of critical essays, which had been recently published in London and Leipzig. In a letter to his mentor, the 18- year- old Hofmannsthal notes: ‘This is the book I have been waiting for, without knowing it, for fifteen- and- a- half years’ (“Oscar Wilde ist das Buch, nach dem ich mich seit 15 ½ Jahren unbewusst sehne,” qtd. in Weber 99). The Austrian poet and diplomat Leopold von Andrian (1875– 1951), Hofmannsthal’s future collaborator in the conception and foun- dation of the Salzburg Festival, appears to have shared his friend’s Anglophilia, making a fleeting reference to Wilde as a potential source of literary inspiration in an 1894 letter to Hofmannsthal: ‘Have you ever read anything by the poet Oscar Wilde? He seems to be worth noting too’ (“Hast Du etwas vom Dichter Oscar Wilde gelesen? Der ist auch merkwürdig,” Hofmannsthal, Briefwechsel 29). © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | DOI: 10.1163/ 9789004370463_ 004 Curtain Up: Wilde Enters the Viennese Stage 49 At a time when Wilde had as yet largely escaped the notice of German- speaking audiences and when his literary reputation was still unaffected by the frenzied coverage of his court trials, Hofmannsthal’s and Andrian’s responses point towards the intense reception of English literature by fin- de- siècle Viennese reading cul- ture. Sharply distancing themselves from the repressive and stagnant official cul- tural policy of the Habsburg Monarchy, the intellectual circles grouped around key figures of Viennese Modernism and its literary scene proved to be receptive to the regenerative impulses offered by the artistic avant- garde movements that had taken root in other European countries. These dynamics were fed by exten- sive multilateral synergies within a tightly-meshed network that allowed for artis- tic cross- fertilisation and stimulating personal exchange and communication (Timms, “Wiener Kreise” 129).1 In this context, a cosmopolitan outlook would have served as a proudly flaunted mark of intellectual elitism, innovation and originality, and of rejecting cultural conservatism. Additionally, the knowledge of, and access to, foreign-language literary novelties could be exploited in terms of gaining social distinction and accumulating cultural capital within the local literary field. Still one decade before Wilde entered the Austro-Hungarian capital’s theatrical landscape, the early reception and critical discussion of his works constituted a common denominator among the closely knit networks of Viennese literary cote- ries. Against the background of the fin- de- siècle Viennese affinity with French Symbolism, it seems as if Wilde’s French- inspired aesthetic theories “found consid- erably more resonance in Francophile Vienna (and Munich) than in Francophobe Berlin” (Bridgwater, Anglo- German Interactions 47), more naturally harmonising with the local artistic avant- garde. Hence, “form- conscious Austria” – as opposed to “content- troubled Germany” (Bridgwater, Anglo- German Interactions 49), whose literary and theatrical scene increasingly found itself in the throes of Naturalism – presented itself as a propitious soil for the productive reception and appropriation of innovative tendencies emerging in the arena of international literature.2 Fuelled by Hermann Bahr’s mediating activities, Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s early interest in, and familiarity with, English literature3 found expression in a number of essays, which included sketches of Algernon Charles Swinburne 1 More precisely, Edward Timms identifies the Vienna circles as a “condensed system of micro- circuits” (Karl Kraus 9), which facilitated intercommunication and the dissemination of novel cultural influences: “The crucial feature which distinguishes these Vienna circles from the cultural elites of other cities is that the circles intersected. Certain people were members of two or more different circles, which ensured a rapid circulation of ideas” (Karl Kraus 7). 2 For a condensed discussion of Wilde’s reception in fin- de- siècle Vienna, see Mayer’s contri- bution to the edited volume Reconnecting Aestheticism and Modernism (2017). 3 In this context, see also Annette Simonis’ study of the reception and adaptation of English literature in Hofmannsthal’s writings..