Jewish writing is a constitutive element of modern Austrian literature. Over the centuries Jews were the most prominent non-Christian population of the Habsburg Empire. Jews comprised approximately 1% of the population, but Jewish writers and authors of Jewish background were at the forefront of cultural criticism and journalism in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. They were also pioneers in psychology, science, history, and philosophy, in experimental literary genres such as satire, cabaret, and film, and they excelled in traditional literary forms, prose fiction, drama, poetry, essay, and aphorism. Some of the most acclaimed authors and critics of Jewish descent of the Empire and the first Austrian republic (1919-1938)

This article in full comprises 3994 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

Published 18 August 2004

Citation: Lorenz, Dagmar C. G.. "Austrian-Jewish Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. 18 August 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1468, accessed 20 November 2009.]