Literarisches Leben in Österreich 1848 - 1890

The project carried out socio-literary basic research concerning Austrian literature and culture between 1848 and 1890. This included systematic source studies, detailed empirical investigations, statistic research, publication of annotated diplomatic editions as well as exemplary interpretations. The project started on the assumption that, apart from single investigations, Austrian Literary Life between 1848 and 1890 is a basically unexplored territory. A fact, which among other things renders the interpretation of less known writers of this time rather difficult. Therefore the project understood itself as a contribution to socio-literary basic research on an era of Austrian culture that has been neglected since 1945. The introduction of the very object of research - `Literary Life in Austria 1984-1890` called for an extensive application of research practices such as source studies, edition, commentary and statistics more than it would be necessary for various other periods. From the methodological perspective Pierre Bourdieus` sociology of literature and culture suggested itself as the most suitable basis for an establishment of the object of investigation itself, since it allows for an integration of empirical and theoretical research-practice. However, Bourdieus` findings concerning the respective period in French literature must not simply be projected onto the Austrian situation: Only if differences of the Austrian Cultural Field are carefully taken into consideration the findings are not distorted and the method is not reduced to mere jargon. The various fields of investigation of the project are divided as follows: Systematic source studies, the aim of which was to produce a handbook of Literary Life of the period concerned. The handbook treats literature as a social fact and will also allow to reconstruct from debates of that time certain epiphenomena of literature (i.e. celebrations of writers, literary awards, etc.). Some of these analyses led to further detailed investigations of, for example, trans-cultural relations, regionalism, and literary ethnography. The edition and annotation of paradigmatic correspondences (Rosegger/Anzengruber; Rosegger/Heckenast). Systematic bibliographic research on literary magazines and anthologies of poetry. Statistic analyses of the structure of the Austrian literary field between 1848 and 1890. Exemplary interpretations and monographic-synthetic research. In this area national and international co- operation emerged thanks to internationally organized symposiums ("Literature and Nation: German Literature and the Foundation of the German Empire 1870/71"; "Literary Life in Austria 1848-1890") and the invitation to contribute to a volume with monographic papers on the most important writers of the period. The detailed investigation of Literary Life between the revolution of 1848 and the turn of the century could open up new areas of research concerning the analysis of modernity in Austria, since the project has revealed so far unknown connections to the preconditions of modernism. Apart from that a continued empirical basic research on the literary production in Austria (after 1890) would be desirable.