Austro-American Reflections: Making the Writings of Ann Tizia Leitich Accessible To

Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2012-12-12 Austro-American Reflections: Making the ritingsW of Ann Tizia Leitich Accessible to English-Speaking Audiences Stephen Andrew Simon Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the German Language and Literature Commons, and the Slavic Languages and Societies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Simon, Stephen Andrew, "Austro-American Reflections: Making the ritingsW of Ann Tizia Leitich Accessible to English-Speaking Audiences" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3543. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3543 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Austro-American Reflections: Making the Writings of Ann Tizia Leitich Accessible to English-Speaking Audiences Stephen A. Simon A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Robert McFarland, Chair Michelle James Cindy Brewer Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages Brigham Young University December 2012 Copyright © 2012 Stephen A. Simon All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Austro-American Reflections: Making the Writings of Ann Tizia Leitich Accessible to English-Speaking Audiences Stephen A. Simon Department of German Studies and Slavic Languages, BYU Master of Arts Ann Tizia Leitich wrote about America to a Viennese audience as a foreign correspondent with the unique and personal perspective of an immigrant to the United States. Leitich differentiates herself from other Europeans who reported on America in her day by telling of the life of the average working American. In so doing, Leitich uses her work as a foreign correspondent to create a new identity for Austria between the World Wars. Leitich uses America in the 1920’s and 1930’s as a cultural mirror in which the new Republic of Austria can see itself. Leitich’s perspective of America is not only useful to the German-speaking audiences of her time, but also sheds light on America in the interwar period to readers of all backgrounds. Unfortunately, the influence of Leitich’s journalism is currently limited to German-speaking audiences. Included are 31 translations of Leitich’s articles for the benefit of English-speaking audiences to assist in further analysis of implications of her work. Keywords: Ann Tizia Leitich, Austro-American Relations, First Republic of Austria, Journalism, Great Depression, Foreign Correspondence ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to personally thank the many people who made this work possible. First and foremost, I thank my wife, Pamela, and my daughter, Victoria, for their sacrifices of time, patience, and support throughout this process. I especially thank Dr. Robert McFarland as my thesis chair for having introduced me to Leitich as part of BYU’s Sophie Project. This work would never have come about without his input and detailed comments and suggestions. I would also like to recognize Dr. Michelle James and Dr. Cindy Brewer for their guidance in the courses I was privileged to have taken from them. They have been fundamental in my understanding of women’s literature and the academic approaches to literary analysis. I would like to acknowledge the real author of the works which I have translated, Ann Tizia Leitich, for her efforts to use the written word to make the world she knew a more positive one for everyone. I will be forever in the debt of my parents, Terry and Kris Simon, for having supported me throughout my life, especially regarding my education. I am grateful to my many immediate and extended family members who have fostered my sense of curiosity and love of knowledge. Last but not least, I would like to thank my friend and colleague Bryan Stephen Kerr for his assistance in editing and formatting this work. Table of Contents Title Page .............................................................................................................................. i Abstract................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ iv I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 II. Review of Literature ....................................................................................................... 4 III. Biography ...................................................................................................................... 7 IV. Americanism in Germany and Austria ......................................................................... 13 V. Leitich’s Use of America to Create an Austrian Identity ............................................... 15 Article Introductions and Translations ............................................................................ 35 Appendix A ...................................................................................................................... 277 Appendix B ...................................................................................................................... 277 Appendix C ...................................................................................................................... 278 Appendix D ...................................................................................................................... 279 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 280 iv I. Introduction In the January 29, 1924 edition of Vienna’s premiere Liberal newspaper, the Neue Freie Presse, there was an article describing the life of women in America. The author was foreign correspondent and Vienna native Ann Tizia Leitich. Leitich observed the interaction between men and women in America and how it contrasted from her own experiences in Austria. She reports: From the window of a villa in an elegant suburb of Chicago I saw a friend of the house, a well-known doctor, carrying a stack of serving platters over the pristine gravel path to his car. The matter was a simple one: his wife had invited the ladies in her club to Lunch and borrowed twenty platters from her friend. Since carrying heavy loads is no matter for a maid, the man of the house was entrusted with the transport. The lady of the house watched from window with me and asked me why I was smiling. In response to my very careful explanation she said: “Well, we would not like to exchange our men for yours!” I had to admit that she was right, because she would be the only one to lose out in the deal. (“The Life of Women in America,” 31) Why is it that the American women would lose out if they had European men? What was it about the husband’s actions that led Leitich to draw such conclusions? Why would an Austrian audience even care about the men and women of America? At the time of the article’s publication, America was an economic leader in the world. Austria, conversely, was struggling to survive in its shrunken state after World War I. Much of what was formerly Austria, including Bohemia, Moravia, and Yugoslavia was now 1 composed of independent ethnic states1. Ann Tizia Leitich wrote to Austrians who still remembered having lived in a much larger and different Austria. She immigrated to America in 1921 and wrote this article in the second year of her tenure as a part-time foreign correspondent. She actually was the maid in the story she related above. In order to sustain herself and explore America, she worked at several more menial jobs before and during her time as a foreign correspondent. Much of Leitich’s reporting and perspective stem directly from her own experiences of working everyday jobs throughout the United States2. Even though many of Leitich's essays are now available on-line on the pages of the archived Neue Freie Presse as a part of the Austrian National Library's ANNO Project3, these articles are in German, in Fraktur script, and embedded in the context of the newspapers in which they appeared. This form of archival information is only valuable to those who speak German and can read Fraktur font. Leitich’s articles offer first-hand experiences of America from an immigrant in the early 20th century. I argue that her journalism is accessible and relevant to American readers and those interested in America and American culture between the two world wars. It cannot be expected that all of those interested in what Leitich had to say would be fluent in German and could read Fraktur script. This thesis is comprised of distinct sections. In the first section, I will argue that Ann Tizia Leitich’s articles about America are, on one level, a discussion of Austrian identity. To contextualize this topic, I will first review what has already been written concerning Leitich and her journalistic career to date. I will 1 See Appendix D for a list of works on the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 2 See Leitich’s articles: “Don Quixotes of the Silver Screen,” “Hunting for a ‘Job’

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