Joseph Roth, Radetzkymarsch [The Radetzky March]

Ana Foteva (Saint Lawrence University)
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Through the story of the Slovenian peasant family Trotta, which ascends to nobility, Joseph Roth (1894-1939) depicts in the novel

The Radetzky March

(1932) the last half-century of the Habsburg Monarchy. Written from a post-Habsburg perspective and considered to be Roth’s most significant novel,

The Radetzky March

also marks a very important boundary in Roth’s œuvre – between works written before and after the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany. The slightly ironic perspective towards the Habsburg Monarchy present in

The Radetzky March

disappears from Roth’s works written after 1933, on account of his hopes that only the restoration of the supranational empire could prevent the victorious march of nationalism throughout Europe.

Although The Radetzky March evokes the most typical

2345 words

Citation: Foteva, Ana. "Radetzkymarsch". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 March 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16142, accessed 19 March 2024.]

16142 Radetzkymarsch 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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