Ödön von Horváth

Part of our upcoming Filmbar series By Ödön von Horváth Ödön von Horváth (1901-1939) is one of the most important theatre writers in the 1930s. His reputation rests largely on the four plays in this collection, which he called Volksstucke (popular plays), although he had no desire to embrace this tradition uncritically. Reflected in these plays is the sympathy for the situation of the exploited classes, as well as the concern for the way language is used for deception and self-deception. The hollow characters come across as potentially receptive to fascism. A latent brutality is unmasked, a lack of genuine feeling—all lying hidden under a veneer of facile sentimentality. Paperback243 pagesAriadne Press, 20025.75 x 0.75 x 8.75 inchesISBN 9781572411081Literature, Theatre

Tales From the Vienna Woods & Other Plays

By Ödön Von Horváth Translated by Benjamin Dorvel “The most gifted writer of the younger generation.”—Stefan Zweig“The most gifted of the young dramatists, and above and beyond the brightest mind….”—Carl Zuckmayer“Horváth had turned his back on the mournful realism of the émigrés, with their passion for easy caricature and their desire for revenge. He had realized with extraordinary acuteness that to meet the horror of reality with a horror literature was no longer possible or useful; that the reality of Fascism was in fact so overwhelming and catastrophic that no realism, particularly the agonized naturalism of the twentieth century, could do it justice."—Alfred Kazin This never-before translated work by a major yet overlooked mid-20th century writer is a brutally funny look at the human comedy on the eve of Europe’s decent into Fascism.It tells the tale of a failed used car salesman who wants to live the high life, and so decides to travel by train from Munich to Barcelona to attend the World’s Fair—in hopes of meeting a beautiful, rich woman who will provide for his every whim.It’s a highly-stylized and, at times, raucously funny tale of the almost-absurd: a dark and satiric look at Europeans, and especially Germans, on the brink of cataclysm. Adrift in their acquisitive desires, they are vulnerable to the propaganda of the State—making this novel brilliantly foresightful in its understanding of politics and human nature at a crucial point in modern history.Ödön von Horváth’s scathing insight, in fact, led to his having to flee the very society he depicted when, living in Berlin, he drew the wrath of the Nazis. And yet this hilarious tour-de-force—written just after his escape, and just before his death in a tragic accident—eschews bitterness for rambunctious perseverance and compassion, and provides ample evidence of why von Horváth deserves renewed appreciation. Paperback192 pagesMelville House, 2012Originally published in 19305 x 0.4 x 8 inches ISBN 9781935554479Satire

Shop at Neue
Ödön von Horváth

Tales From the Vienna Woods & Other Plays

The Eternal Philistine

Shop at Neue Ödön von Horváth

Tales From the Vienna Woods & Other Plays

The Eternal Philistine

Shop at Neue
Ödön von Horváth