Austria, 1945-55

The year 1995 marks two decisive anniversaries in the history of modern Austria: 50 years since the ending of the German occupation and 40 years since the signing of the State Treaty and the ending of the Allied occupation. This book will focus on the first ten years of post-war Austria at a time when this period is under critical and popular scrutinity (Modern Austria was this year's main theme at the Frankfurt Book Fair). We expect to meet a demand in university departments of history and german for material covering this era and some of the leading names in Austrian studies have contributed to the book. Dr Robert offers a major re-assessment of this period in is essay Narratives in post-war Austrian historiography. The remaining essays deal with some of the major literary figures from this era: Heimito von Doderer, Franz Theodor Csokor, Hilde Spiel, George Saiko and Albert Paris Gutersloh. The book is prefaced by an introduction by the editor to the historical and literary context of the first decade of the Second Republic, showing how the early post-war situation in Austrian differed from that of Germany. Most books in this field are in German. This book will offer the perspective of British academics working in the field of Austrian studies and will be attractive not only to an English-speaking readership but also to the large number of English-speaking Austrian and German scholars in this field who have traditionally shown a keen interest in the international response to their own literature and history.

"This is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the critical first ten years of Austria''s postwar history . . . readable, well documented and informative . . .There is much food for thought; some of it may even cause indigestion in Austria if, as one hopes, the book finds a wide readership there." -Forum for Modern Language Studies