Peter Altenberg

Peter Altenberg ( born March 9, 1859 in Vienna, † January 8, 1919 in Vienna; actually Richard English ) was an Austrian writer. He chose his pseudonym after the nickname "Peter" his first love Berta Lecher, the (now St. Andrew - Woerdern part of the community ) lived in Altenberg on the Danube.

Life and work

Altenberg was born on 9 March 1859 in Vienna, the son of a Jewish merchant. Altenberg only studied law, then medicine, legal career but stopped and took a bookseller at the Hofbuchhandlung Julius manner in Stuttgart. This he broke off as well as a renewed attempt studying law. In 1895 he wrote his first literary work, through contact with Karl Kraus came from 1896 to Publications ( sketches band As I see it ). In March and April 1900, he came "from the Israelite religious community ," then remained ten years non-denominational and finally settled in 1910, baptized in St. Charles Church. His godfather was the architect Adolf Loos. Altenberg, who had returned after a short time in Munich to Vienna, was there as far back as a city well-known figure to the wound themselves legends.

After several failed attempts to start a normal working life, a doctor attested to him because of a " hypersensitivity of the nervous system ", the inability to exercise a profession. Since then he has led a somewhat bohemian life and spent most of the time in coffee houses. Inspired by brief impressions, fleeting encounters and accidentally overheard conversations, Altenberg wrote as an opportunity artist called coffee house literature. This put him in an impressionistic study of society and the life of Viennese Modernism dar. He described the process of formation of these texts in a letter to Arthur Schnitzler as follows:

Stylistically, his lyrics seem superficial, monotonous, some took it and simply unrelated. The author appears to be watching only. For the reader, there is no continuous plot reveals, as no main characters are present. Also the message and links missing.

The work of Peter Altenberg consists exclusively of these short prose texts, which are difficult to assign one of the canonized literary forms. They are most often referred to as prose sketches or prose poems. There are snapshots that show in concentrated form, the life, the society of Vienna at the turn of the century. The Art of Peter Altenberg is to create a few " literary brushstrokes " a comprehensive picture; with the aid of short hints to the reader who is willing to also read between the lines to resurrect an entire panorama of the society, a whole network of relationships.

Altenberg is not trying to bring life to an ideological denominator but shows it in all its colorfulness, its often contradictory variety. An important role in his sketches play sensory impressions - colors, smells, moods. He is considered one of the greatest exponents of Impressionism.

On the other hand, its short texts are partially suitable for the stage - so contributed about one of his friends, the writer Egon Friedell, who also worked as a cabaret artist and master of ceremonies, always texts Altenbergs publicly before. Parts of Friedell talks with Altenberg appeared later than anecdotes, for which, however, Friedell was responsible as the author. Some of his lyrics were set to music by Alban Berg.

Despite success Altenberg remained dependent on donations, to which his friends - including Karl Kraus and Adolf Loos - calling. After he had spent his last ten years of life to a great extent in alcohol withdrawal and mental hospitals, he died in 1919. He was in a grave of honor in Vienna's Central Cemetery along (group 0, Number 84 ). The grave speech was Karl Kraus; he decided it with the words: " Woe to the offspring that ignores you "

In 1929 in Vienna Dobling ( 19th District ) was the Peter Altenberg - alley named after him.

Works

  • As I see it. S. Fischer, Berlin 1896; Manesseplatz, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7175-2128-0
  • Ashantee. Fischer, Berlin 1897; Loecker, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-85409-460-9
  • What day of the zuträgt me. Fifty-five new studies. Fischer, Berlin 1901
  • Prodromos. Fischer, Berlin 1906
  • Tales of life. Fischer, Berlin 1908; changeable. A. ibid. 1919
  • The selection of my books. Fischer, Berlin 1908
  • Images arches of the little life. Reiss, Berlin 1909
  • New Old. Fischer, Berlin 1911 ( digitized version of the UB Bielefeld)
  • Semmering 1912 Fischer, Berlin, 1913.; presumably A. ibid. 1919
  • Fechsung. Fischer, Berlin 1915
  • Nachfechsung. Fischer, Berlin 1916
  • Vita ipsa. Fischer, Berlin 1918
  • My life evening. Fischer, Berlin 1919 ( digitized version of the UB Bielefeld)
  • The estate of Peter Altenberg, Alfred Polgar compiled by. Fischer, Berlin, 1925.
  • Peter Altenberg. Selection of Karl Kraus, edited by Sigismund von Radecki. Atlantis, Zurich 1963
  • The Book of Books by Peter Altenberg, compiled by Karl Kraus. 3 volumes. Wallenstein, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8353-0409-3
  • The self-invention of a poet. Letters and Documents 1892-1896. Edited and with an afterword by Leo A. Lensing. Wallenstein, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8353-0552-6

Musical settings

  • Alban Berg: From the youth songs for voice and piano (ca. 1901-1908; edited in 1985. ) Sadness ( " Weep, gentle girl ..." ) ( 1906)
  • Hope ( " What are you hoping for, girls, yet ?" ) ( 1906)
  • Flute player ( " Freed from the burden of thought and soul " ) ( 1906)
Karl Kraus (writer) Wiener Moderne Prose poetry Hanns Eisler Neue Deutsche Biographie Zeno.org Integrated Authority File
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