The Very Best 100+ Books & Movies for Your Viennese, Jewish, and Culinary Therapy

 

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In a corner of the foodniks library.

HERE’S a tiny selection of good reads and references for your investigation of Vienna, Sigmund Freud, his cooking and favorite foods, the city’s culture and history, on Jewish, Hungarian, Italian and other influences on local cuisine, and on cooking in general, as they pertain to a Viennese foodnik’s therapy. With some painful exceptions, all books are in English.

Books, especially these, do have a positive effect on the outcome of your culinary therapy! Buying them in a brick and mortar bookshop is even more conducive. In Vienna, there’s Dorothy Singer’s bookshop, the city’s one and only Jewish bookshop, situated next to Vienna’s main synagogue at Rabensteig 3. Not far from there you’ll find mainly books in English at Shakespeare & Company. For German books, go to Brigitte Salanda’s bookshop a.buch, an institution, where you’ll also find a fine selection of books on psychoanalysis and related topics. For books in German, French or Italian turn to Hartliebs. (If everything fails, have a look at the offer at Herder, MorawaThalia, in this particular order, or especially for used books at AbeBooks.)

Viennese Cuisine

Alice Urbach, So kocht man in Wien! Ein Koch- und Haushaltungsbuch der gut bürgerlichen Küche. (Vienna: Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, 1936)
Alice Urbach, So kocht man in Wien! Ein Koch- und Haushaltungsbuch der gut bürgerlichen Küche. (Vienna: Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, 1936)
Kurt Gutenbrunner, Neue Cuisine. The Elegant Tastes of Vienna. Recipes from Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans.
Kurt Gutenbrunner, Neue Cuisine. The Elegant Tastes of Vienna. Recipes from Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans. (New York: Rizzoli, 2011)
Cara de Silva, In Memory’s Kitchen. A Legacy from the Women of Terezin, (New York: Jason Aronson, 1986)

This is the type of cuisine that constituted the daily fair of the assimilated Viennese Jewish families, like the Freuds. Their cook Paula Fichtl had trained with the gentlefolk. No doubt, this is where a Viennese salonière like Bertha Zuckerkandl or her cooks for that matter, would have looked for inspiration too.

Hence, there are quite a few very Viennese recipes preserved in a famous book written against all odds, In Memory’s Kitchen – A Legacy from the Women of Terezin, edited by Cara de Silva (New York: Aronson, 1996).

There’s also the famous and perfidious case of Alice Urbach’s aryanized cookbook “So kocht man in Wien!” (See her granddaughter’s book about the whole story: Karina Urbach “Alice’s Book”) It is particularly telling to see which recipes have been erased from the book for being too Jewish. One such example is Krautfleckerl, caramelized cabbage and noddles. Unfortunately, there’s no reprint of this cookbook available. Though, you could read Alic Urbach’s “So kocht man in Wien!” at the Austrian National Library.

Kurt Gutenbrunner’s and Peter Grunauer’s cookbooks are essential reading. Kurt Gutenbrunner is the chef at, among others, Wallsé and café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie, as well as the former Blaue Gans. Peter Grunauer is a well known Austrian chef in New York City. He was the proprietor of Vienna 79, one of the few four-star restaurants in New York City, and Vienna Park a three-star Austrian concept located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Ewald & Mario Plachutta, Plachutta: Viennese Cuisine, (Vienna, Brandstätter, 20014)
Ewald & Mario Plachutta, Plachutta: Viennese Cuisine, (Vienna: Brandstätter, 20014).
Peter Grunauer, Andreas Kisler, Viennese Cuisine: The New Approach, (New York: Doubleday, 1987)
Olga Hess, Adolf Hess, Viennese Cooking (Vienna, 1913)
Olga Hess, Adolf Hess, Viennese Cooking (International Cook Book Series) (Vienna: 1913 / New York: Crown, 1952)
Marcia Colman Morton, The Art of Viennese Cooking (New York: Bantam Books, 1970)
Marcia Colman Morton, The Art of Viennese Cooking (New York: Bantam Books, 1970)*

* Interestingly, Marcia Colman Morton’s husband was Austrian-born American writer Frederic Morton.

in German

Franz Maier-Bruck - Das große Sacher-Kochbuch - Die österreichische Küche
Franz Maier-Bruck – Das große Sacher-Kochbuch – Die österreichische Küche, (Vienna: Schuler/Pawlak, 1975)
Franz Ruhm, Das Franz Ruhm Kochbuch, (Vienna: Orac/Kremayr & Scheriau, 1984, 2013)
Franz Ruhm, Das Franz Ruhm Kochbuch, (Vienna: Orac/Kremayr & Scheriau, 1984, 2013)
Gerd Wolfgang Sievers, Wiener Beiselkochbuch, (Vienna: Metroverlag, 2012)
Gerd Wolfgang Sievers, Wiener Beiselkochbuch, (Vienna: Metroverlag, 2012)
Ingrid Haslinger, Die Wiener Küche. Kulturgeschichte und Rezepte, (Vienna: Mandelbaum, 2018)

 

 

Sigmund Freud and Cooking

Surprising culinary perspectives on psychoanalysis and its founder: Did you ever read Freud’s own cookbook – available in English? Though, a serious further investigation of Freud’s food-related habits will require some German skills.

"Psychoanalysis and Cooking" Conference, 1 April 1993, in the Anna Freud Centre / Freud Museum London. Papers published in "Royal Institue of Cooking Magazine (RICM)" summer 1993
“Psychoanalysis and Cooking” Conference, 1 April 1993, in the Anna Freud Centre / Freud Museum London. Papers published in “Royal Institue of Cooking Magazine (RICM)” summer 1993.
James Hillman (Editor) & Charles Boer (Editor), Freud's own cookbook (New York, Brunner/Mazel, 1987)
James Hillman & Charles Boer (Editors), Freud’s own cookbook (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1987)
Katja Behling-Fischer, Zu Tisch bei Sigmund Freud: Lebensweise, Gastlichkeit und Essgewohnheiten des Gründers der Psychoanalyse. Mit vielen Rezepten (Wien, Brandstätter, 2000)
Katja Behling-Fischer, Zu Tisch bei Sigmund Freud: Lebensweise, Gastlichkeit und Essgewohnheiten des Gründers der Psychoanalyse. Mit vielen Rezepten (Vienna: Brandstätter, 2000)

You might also want to have a look at this surrealist view on psychoanalysis and food:

Salvador Dalí, Dali, Les Diners de Gala, (Paris, Lavigne, 1971)
Salvador Dalí, Dali, Les Diners de Gala, (Paris: Lavigne, 1971 / Cologne: Taschen, bilingual ed. 2016)
Deutsche Kochschule in Prag, Sammlung von erprobten Speisevorschriften, (1894, 7th ed. 1914)
Deutsche Kochschule in Prag, Sammlung von erprobten Speisevorschriften, (1894, 7th ed. 1914)
Stefanie Mathias, Zum Apres Souper: 333 Rezepte für Kleines Backwerk, Cremes, Eis, Käsespeisen, Kompotte, Jams, Sulzen, eingemachte Früchte, Speisen zum Tee, Drinks, (Wien, Leipzig: Fiba, 1932)
Stefanie Mathias, Zum Apres Souper: 333 Rezepte für Kleines Backwerk, Cremes, Eis, Käsespeisen, Kompotte, Jams, Sulzen, eingemachte Früchte, Speisen zum Tee, Drinks, (Wien, Leipzig: Fiba, 1932)

Freud bought the cookbook Deutsche Kochschule for his wife Martha in the 1890’s. The Freuds used this cookbook until Anna’s death in 1982.

Later, in 1933, Freud added Après Souper to the household’s cookbook collection. It was a present he made to their cook Frau Bader, who left the family that year because it was no longer befitting to work for Jews. Faithfull Paula Fichtl, who had entered the household in 1929, took over the cooking until Anna’s death (see Behlinger-Fischer).

Paula Fichtl’s recollections are available in German: Detlef Berthelsen, Alltag bei Familie Freud: Die Erinnerungen der Paula Fichtl (Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1987)

Vienna: Basics

Hilde Spiel, Vienna's Golden Autumn: From the Watershed Year 1866 to Hitler's Anschluss, 1938, (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987)
Hilde Spiel, Vienna’s Golden Autumn: From the Watershed Year 1866 to Hitler’s Anschluss, 1938, (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987)
Eric R Kandel - The Age of Insight - The Quest to Understand the Unconcious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present (New York, Random House, 2012)
Eric R Kandel – The Age of Insight – The Quest to Understand the Unconcious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present (New York: Random House, 2012)

Sigmund Freud’s lifetime is also the period Vienna is most famous for. It was the time when Vienna produced the ideas that shaped the West. Consequently, the number of publications on the topic is vast and manifold. Coincidentally, right on time to feed those ideas, it was during those same decades that classic Viennese cuisine emerges as we know it today.

The two main characteristics of the city are described by cabaret artist George Kreisler singing Death must be a Viennese (Der Tod, das muss ein Wiener sein) and How nice Vienna would be without Viennese (Wie schön wäre Wien ohne Wiener). All that while continuously ranking at the top of various worldwide quality of life indexes, and me not wanting to move. But “I won’t let my Vienna be sugarcoated for me by any study in the world. Certainly not!”1

As a general introduction to the country as a whole, one might want to read Steven Beller’s A Concise History of Austria (Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Jacques Le Rider, Modernity and Crises of Identity: Culture and Society in Fin-De-Siecle Vienna, (Paris: PUF, 1990), ISBN: 978-0826406316, 380 pages.
Jacques Le Rider, Modernity and Crises of Identity: Culture and Society in Fin-De-Siecle Vienna, (Paris: PUF, 1990 / Rosemary Morris, translator; New York: Continuum, 1993)
Carl E. Schorske, Fin-De-Sciècle Vienna. Politics and Culture, (New York, 1979)
Carl E. Schorske, Fin-De-Sciècle Vienna. Politics and Culture, (New York, 1979) & Steven Beller, Vienna and the Jews, 1867-1938: A Cultural History,(Cambridge U. Press, 2003)
Steven Beller, Rethinking Vienna 1900, (New YOrk, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2001), ISBN: 978-1571811394, 304 pages.
Steven Beller, Rethinking Vienna 1900, (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2001)
Frederic Morton, A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888-1889, (London: Penguin Books, 1979), ISBN: 978-0140056679, 352 pages.
Frederic Morton, A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888-1889, (London: Penguin Books, 1979) & Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914, (Los Angeles: Scribner’s, 1989)
Brigitte Hamann, Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man, (Munich: Piper, 2012)
Brigitte Hamann, Hitler’s Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man, (Munich: Piper, 1996 / Oxford University Press, 1999)
William M Johnston - The Austrian Mind - An Intellectual and Social History, 1848-1939 (University of California Press, 1972)
William M Johnston – The Austrian Mind – An Intellectual and Social History, 1848-1939 (University of California Press, 1972)
Allan Janik, Stephen Edelston Toulmin, Wittgenstein's Vienna ( Ivan R. Dee , 1996)
Allan Janik, Stephen Edelston Toulmin, Wittgenstein’s Vienna (Ivan R. Dee, 1996)
Edward Timms , Karl Kraus: Apocalyptic Satirist. Culture and Catastrophe in Habsburg Vienna (Yale University Press, 1986)
Edward Timms , Karl Kraus: Apocalyptic Satirist. Culture and Catastrophe in Habsburg Vienna (Yale University Press, 1986)

Martin Parr, Cakes & Balls: Martin Parr in Vienna (Vienna: Anzenbergeredition, 2016) ISBN 978-3-9503876-2-9If you are tired of reading, you can complement your study with a look at the photographs by Martin Parr in his Cakes & Balls: Martin Parr in Vienna (Vienna: Anzenbergeredition, 2016. ISBN 978-3-9503876-2-9), a concise summary of the essence of contemporary Vienna in just a few pictures.

Jewish Vienna

Steven Beller - Vienna and the Jews, 1867-1938: A Cultural History (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
Steven Beller, Vienna and the Jews, 1867-1938: A Cultural History,(Cambridge University Press, 2003)
Werner Hanak-Lettner (Ed), Danielle Spera (Ed), Our City! Jewish Vienna - Then to Now (Jewish Museum Vienna, 2013, ISBN 978-3-901398-71-1)
Werner Hanak-Lettner (ed), Danielle Spera (ed), Our City! Jewish Vienna – Then to Now (Jewish Museum Vienna, 2013, ISBN 978-3-901398-71-1)

“Nine-tenths of what the world of the 19th century celebrated as Viennese culture was in fact culture promoted and nurtured or even created by the Jews of Vienna,” wrote Stefan Zweig to his publisher before his suicide. “My Vienna is a bleeding joke, a wound that won’t heal”, added writer Robert Schindel a few years back.

Peter Gay’s A Godless Jew: Freud, Atheism, and the Making of Psychoanalysis would have been appropriate in this section too. After all, Freud is the most brilliant example of an emerging Jewish Atheism in Vienna.

For a thorough statistical study turn to The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity by Marsha L. Rozenblit.

Adam Phillips, Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst (Jewish Lives), (Yale University Press, 2014)
Adam Phillips, Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst (Jewish Lives), (Yale University Press, 2014)
Hilde Spiel, Fanny von Arnstein: Daughter of the Enlightenment, (Berlin: S. Fischer, 1962)
Hilde Spiel, Fanny von Arnstein: Daughter of the Enlightenment, (Frankfurt am Main: 1962 / Christine Shuttleworth, translator; New York: New Vessel Press, 2013)
Doron Rabinovici, Eichmann's Jews: The Jewish Administration of Holocaust Vienna, 1938-1945, (Frankfurt: Jüdischer Verlag, 2000), ISBN: 978-0745646824, 288 pages.
Doron Rabinovici, Eichmann’s Jews: The Jewish Administration of Holocaust Vienna, 1938-1945, (Frankfurt am Main: Jüdischer Verlag, 2000 / Nick Somers, translator; Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011)
Ruth Kluger, Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered, (Göttingen: Wallstein, 1992. / New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2001)
Ruth Kluger, Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered, (Göttingen: Wallstein, 1992. / New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2001)
Matti Bunzl, Symptoms of Modernity: Jews and Queers in Late-Twentieth-Century Vienna, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004)
Matti Bunzl, Symptoms of Modernity: Jews and Queers in Late-Twentieth-Century Vienna, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004)
Julia Kaldori (Editor), Jewish Vienna (City Guide), (Vienna, Mandelbaum, 2007)
Robert Schindel (Preface), Julia Kaldori (Editor), Jewish Vienna (City Guide), (Vienna, Mandelbaum, 2007)
Michael Feurstein, Gerhard Milchram, Jüdisches Wien. Stadtspaziergänge, (Vienna, Böhlau, 2001)
Michael Feurstein, Gerhard Milchram, Jüdisches Wien. Stadtspaziergänge, (Vienna: Böhlau, 2001)
Steven Beller, Herzl (Jewish Thinkers), (London: Halban, 2004)
Steven Beller, Herzl (Jewish Thinkers), (London: Halban, 2004)

Don’t miss these three books and one Haggadah in German:

Vienna: Art and Architecture

Vienna 1900. BIrth of Modernism. Exhibition catalogue. Leopold Museum, Vienna 2019
Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism. Exhibition catalogue. Leopold Museum, (Vienna, 2019)
Peter Vergo, Art in Vienna 1898–1918: Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele and their contemporaries (1975 / 4th ed, 2015)
Peter Vergo, Art in Vienna 1898–1918: Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele and their contemporaries (1975 / 4th ed, 2015)
Martina Pippal, A Short History of Art in Vienna, (Munich, C.H. Beck, 2000), ISBN: 978-3406467899, 254 pages.
Martina Pippal, A Short History of Art in Vienna, (Munich: Beck, 2000)

The artistic landscape is very varied, from Freud’s contemporaries like Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Gustav Klimt, and Koloman Moser through the Vienna Secession, the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, Arik Brauer and Friedensreich Hundertwasser, to the Vienna Actionism, contemporaries such as Valie Export, Maria Lassnig, Hermann Nitsch, Arnulf Rainer, Franz West, Erwin Wurm, and Heimo Zobernig, and finally young artists like Verena Dengler.

Big names in Viennese architecture and Wiener Werkstätte are Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner, and today Coop Himmelb(l)au.

Berha Blaschke et al, Architecture in Vienna 1850-1930: New Objectivity, (Springer Vienna Architecture, 2002)
Berha Blaschke et al, Architecture in Vienna 1850-1930: New Objectivity, (Springer Vienna Architecture, 2002)
Eva Blau, The Architecture of Red Vienna, 1919-1934, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999)
Eva Blau, The Architecture of Red Vienna, 1919-1934, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999)
Peter Weiermair, Arnulf Rainer: Retrospective 1948-2000
Peter Weiermair, Arnulf Rainer: Retrospective 1948-2000
Eva Badura-Triska, Hubert Klocker et al, Vienna Actionism: Art and Upheaval in 1960s Vienna, (Vienna: Walther König 2012)
Eva Badura-Triska, Hubert Klocker et al, Vienna Actionism: Art and Upheaval in 1960s Vienna (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien), (Vienna: Walther König 2012)
Darsie Alexander et al., Franz West, To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work 1972–2008, MIT Press, 2008)
Darsie Alexander et al., Franz West, To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work 1972–2008 MIT Press, 2008)
Peter Weibel, et al, Erwin Wurm: One Minute Sculptures 1996–2017 (Hatje Cantz, 2017)
Peter Weibel, et al, Erwin Wurm: One Minute Sculptures 1996–2017 (Hatje Cantz, 2017)
Y. Dziewior, J. Thaler, A. Wege, Valie Export: Archiv (Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2012)
Y. Dziewior, J. Thaler, A. Wege, Valie Export: Archiv (Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2012)
Franz Smola, Alexandra Matzner (Editors), Arik Brauer Gesamt.Kunst.Werk (Vienna, Leopold Museum, 2014)
Franz Smola, Alexandra Matzner (Editors), Arik Brauer Gesamt.Kunst.Werk (Vienna, Leopold Museum, 2014)

Vienna: City of Music

David Nelson, Vienna for the Music Lover: The Complete Guide to Vienna's Musical Sites and Performances Today, (Vienna, Musikverlag Doblinger, 2006)
David Nelson, Vienna for the Music Lover: The Complete Guide to Vienna’s Musical Sites and Performances Today, (Vienna, Musikverlag Doblinger, 2006)
Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Expanded Edition), (New York: Norton, 1998)
Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Expanded Edition), (New York: Norton, 1998)

A great number of composers in Western music – from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, through the Strauss family, Brahms, Bruckner and Wolf, to Mahler, Lehár, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and today Olga Neuwirth – are associated with the city. While it was also the birthplace of musicians like Fritz Kreisler, music didn’t play a significant rôle in Sigmund Freud’s life, although he lived in Vienna for almost eighty years.

Next to venerable names such as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatsoper, the Musikverein etc, the city offers also less dusty institutions, like the Klangforum, or the Concentus Musicus founded by the pioneer of the Early Music, Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Friedrich Gulda and Joe Zawinul, the jazz keyboardist and composer, were also from Vienna.

Charles Rosen, Arnold Schoenberg, (University Of Chicago Press, 1996)
Charles Rosen, Arnold Schoenberg, (University Of Chicago Press, 1996)
Arnold Schönberg, Moses und Aron (Michael Gielen, Austrian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, 1974)
Arnold Schönberg, Moses und Aron (Michael Gielen, Austrian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Günter Reich, Louis Davos, 1974)
Olga Neuwirth, Lost Highway (Klangforum Wien, 2008)
Olga Neuwirth, Lost Highway (Klangforum Wien, 2008)
Alfred Brendel, Schubert: Piano Works 1822-1828 (1989/2010)
Alfred Brendel, Schubert: Piano Works 1822-1828 (1989/2010)
Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier (Vienna - Thielemann, Koch, Fleming - 2009)
Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier (Vienna – Thielemann, Koch, Fleming – 2009)
Unser Liebling: Hermann Leopoldi (1995)
Unser Liebling: Hermann Leopoldi (1995)

Also, proper to Vienna, there is popular folk music called Schrammelmusik, which is traditionally played with an accordion and a double-necked guitar. This is the music of the Heuriger, a Viennese tavern, where a local winemaker serves his new wine (see my post Vienna Woods Vineyard Heuriger). Furthermore, there’s the Wienerlied, a popular song genre unique to the city. Lastly, there is a number of successful Viennese cabaret artists and chansonniers, like Hermann Leopoldi.

André Heller: A Musi! A Musi! (Wienerlieder Des 18., 19., Und 20. Jahrhunderts), Intercord , 1974
André Heller, A Musi! A Musi! (Wienerlieder Des 18., 19., Und 20. Jahrhunderts), Intercord, 1974
André Heller, Hemlut Qualtinger, Heurige und Gestrige Lieder - Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, (Mandragora, 1979)
André Heller, Helmut Qualtinger, Heurige und Gestrige Lieder – Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, (Mandragora, 1979)
Das Gerhard Bronner Song Book (2006)
Das Gerhard Bronner Song Book (2006)
Timna Brauer & Elias Meiri Ensemble, Yiddish Tango (Vienna: Preiser Records, 2014)
Timna Brauer & Elias Meiri Ensemble, Yiddish Tango (Vienna: Preiser Records, 2014)

Kaffeehaus: Viennese Café Culture

The central cultural and intellectual rôle played by the Viennese coffee house is stressed in a number of texts already referenced here, for example in Timms’ Karl Kraus and Johnston’s The Austrian Mind. The Viennese coffee house, the Kaffeehaus, is a very special beast, remotely related to the Parisian café and the American coffee shop. It was flourishing in Fin-de-Sciècle Vienna and it still is a very important institution today. Though today it is a pale reminder of what pre-Second World War coffee-house culture used to be, before the aryanisation, expulsion, and murder of Vienna’s Jews, intellectuals, and every other undesired element.
The coffee-house, this extension of one’s living room and office is the only true public space for Viennese (Read Jürgen Habermas’ 1962 text The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere on this). It’s where press conferences are held, where lovers meet, where the arts and politics are made.
Centered on the sweet side of things and the corresponding recipes, there’s Rick Rodgers’ Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. Unfortunately, most noteworthy publications are in German:

Charlotte Ashby, Tag Gronberg, Simon Shaw-Miller (Editors), The Viennese Café and Fin-de-Siècle Culture (Austrian and Habsburg Studies), (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2013)
Charlotte Ashby, Tag Gronberg, Simon Shaw-Miller (Editors), The Viennese Café and Fin-de-Siècle Culture (Austrian and Habsburg Studies), (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2013)
Franz Hubmann, Cafe Hawelka (Vienna: Brandstätter, [2nd updated edition] 2001)
Franz Hubmann, Cafe Hawelka: Ein Wiener Mythos, (Vienna: Brandstätter, [2nd updated edition] 2001)
Christoph Wurmdobler, Kaffeehäuser in Wien: Ein Führer durch eine Wiener Institution. Klassiker, moderne Cafés, Konditoreien, Coffeeshops, (Vienna: Falter, 2010)
Christoph Wurmdobler, Kaffeehäuser in Wien: Ein Führer durch eine Wiener Institution. Klassiker, moderne Cafés, Konditoreien, Coffeeshops, (Vienna: Falter, 2010)
Kurt-Jürgen Heering, Das Wiener Kaffeehaus, (Francfort/M: Insel, 2002)
Kurt-Jürgen Heering, Das Wiener Kaffeehaus, (Frankfurt/M: Insel, 2002)
The coffee house in a broader European and international context
Michael Rössner, Literarische Kaffeehäuser: Kaffeehausliteraten (Wien: Böhlau, 1999)
Michael Rössner, Literarische Kaffeehäuser: Kaffeehausliteraten (Wien: Böhlau, 1999)
Klaus Thiele-Dohrmann, Europäische Kaffeehauskultur (Artemis & Winkler, 1977)
Klaus Thiele-Dohrmann, Europäische Kaffeehauskultur (Artemis & Winkler, 1977)
Ulla Heise, Coffee and Coffee Houses (Cologne: Komet, 1997)
Ulla Heise, Coffee and Coffee Houses (Cologne: Komet, 1997)
Christoph Grafe, Franziska Bollerey (editors) , Cafes and Bars - The Architecture of Public Display (Interior Architecture) (Routledge, 2007)
Christoph Grafe, Franziska Bollerey (editors), Cafes and Bars: The Architecture of Public Display (Interior Architecture) (Routledge, 2007)

Vienna: Memoirs and Biographies

Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday (Stockholm: Hamish-Hamilton & Bermann-Fischer, 1942), ISBN: 978-0803226616, 472 pages.
Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European, (Stockholm: 1942 / Anthea Bell, new translation; London: Pushkin Press, 2009)
Friedrich Torberg, Tante Jolesch or the Decline of the West in Anecdotes Munich: DTV, 1975)
Friedrich Torberg, Tante Jolesch or the Decline of the West in Anecdotes, (Munich: DTV, 1975 / Maria Poglitsch Bauer, translator; Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 2008)

Stefan Zweig’s World of Yesterday: Memories of a European is no doubt a must-read.

Friedrich Torberg’s Tante Jolesch or The Decline of the West in Anecdotes is part of popular Viennese culture.

For the rest, it was very difficult to limit the examples to these eight books, though availability in English as criteria helped to narrow down the number of candidates. Hence, regrettably, I couldn’t list Arik Brauer’s memoirs here. Nor Glockengasse 29 – Eine jüdische Arbeiterfamilie in Wien by Vilma Neuwirth.

Elias Canetti, The Torch In My Ear (Memoirs, vol. 2), (Munich: Hanser, 1980), ISBN: 978-0037451808, 384 pages.
Elias Canetti, The Torch In My Ear (Memoirs, vol. 2), (Munich: Hanser, 1980 / Joachim Neugroschel, translator; London: Granta Books, 1999)
Arthur Schnitzel, My Youth in Vienna Vienna: 1920, published 1968)
Arthur Schnitzler, My Youth in Vienna, (Vienna: 1920, published 1968 / Catherine Hutler, translator; New York: Holt McDougal, 1968)
Hilde Spiel, Return to Vienna: A Journal, (München: Nymphenburger, 1968 / Christine Shuttleworth, translator; Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 2011)
Hilde Spiel, Return to Vienna: A Journal, (München: Nymphenburger, 1968 / Christine Shuttleworth, translator; Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 2011)
JM Stim (Author), Frederic Morton (Introduction), Despite Everything: The Oscar Bronner Story, (2013)
JM Stim (Author), Frederic Morton (Introduction), Despite Everything: The Oscar Bronner Story, (2013)

 Vienna: Novels and Plays

Joseph Roth, Michael Hofmann (New Translator), The Radetzky March (Berlin: Kiepenheuer, 1932 / London: Granta Books, 2003)
Joseph Roth, The Radetzky March (1932 / Michael Hofmann, New Translator; Granta Books, 2003)
Robert Schindel, Born-Where Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp, 1992)
Robert Schindel, Born-Where, (1992 / Michael Roloff, translator; Ariadne Press, 1995)

A great number of writers have lived and worked in the city. The city plays a role in quite a few of them. Crucially missing to this selection are works by Hugo von HofmannsthalKarl KrausEgon FriedellPeter Handke, Robert Menasse, and many others, like young author Stefanie Sargnagel. The large majority of books still awaits translation into English.

Nevertheless, I believe that the works of the writers listed here are a good general starting point to Viennese literature.

Thomas Bernhard, Woodcutters (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1984), ISBN: 978-1400077595, 192 pages.
Thomas Bernhard, Woodcutters (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1984 / David McLintock, translator; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987)
Thomas Bernhard, Heldenplatz (London: Oberon, 2010)
Thomas Bernhard, Heldenplatz (1988 / London: Oberon, 2010)
Ödön von Horvath, David Harrower (Translator), Tales from the Vienna Woods, (1931 / London: Faber and Faber, 2003)
Ödön von Horvath, David Harrower (Translator), Tales from the Vienna Woods, (1931 / London: Faber and Faber, 2003)
Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities Vol. 1: A Sort of Introduction and Pseudo Reality Prevails (1943 / Vintage, 1996)
Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities Vol. 1: A Sort of Introduction and Pseudo Reality Prevails (1943 / Vintage, 1996) & The Man Without Qualities, Vol. 2: Into the Millennium (1943 / Vintage – 1996)
Elfriede Jelinek, Wonderful, Wonderful Times (1980 / Serpent's Tail, 1990)
Elfriede Jelinek, Wonderful, Wonderful Times (1980 / Serpent’s Tail, 1990)
Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1983), ISBN: 978-0802144614, 288 pages.
Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1983 / Joachim Neugroschel, translator; New York: Grove Press, 2004).
Ingeborg Bachmann, Malina (1971 / Holmes & Meier, 1999)
Ingeborg Bachmann, Malina (1971 / Holmes & Meier, 1999)
Elias Canetti, Auto-Da-Fé 1935 / Wedgwood - translator, 1946)
Elias Canetti, Auto-Da-Fé 1935 / Wedgwood – translator, 1946)

Finally, two books that are not from Vienna but set in Vienna and originally written in English:

  • About a fictional meeting between Josef Breuer and Nietzsche in Vienna in the year 1882: When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession (Basic Books, 1992).
  • If you like superheroes, then there’s also the 4th installment of the best-selling exploits of Daniel Silva’s Mossad superspy Gabriel Alon in Death in Vienna.

Jewish Studies: Food

As an introduction you may want to read the Encyclopedia Judaica (2nd ed, 2007) articles on “Food,” “Cookbooks,” (Vol. 5, Coh-Doz) and “Dietary Laws” (Vol. 7, Fey–Gor).

Gil Marks , Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Wiley, 2010)
Gil Marks, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Hoboken: Wiley, 2010)
John Cooper, Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food (New Jersey, Aronson, 1993)
John Cooper, Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food (New Jersey: Aronson, 1993)
Leonard J. Greenspoon, Ronald A. Simkins and Gerald Shapiro (Editors) - Food and Judaism (Studies in Jewish Civilization), (Creighton University Press, 2005)
Leonard J. Greenspoon, Ronald A. Simkins & Gerald Shapiro (Editors), Food and Judaism. (Studies in Jewish Civilization 15), (Omaha: Creighton University Press, 2005)
David C. Kraemer, Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages (New York, Routledge, 2007)
David C. Kraemer, Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages (New York: Routledge, 2007)

Sigmund Freud and The City of Dreams

Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (Leipzig & Vienna: Deuticke, 1989 / Joyce Crick, New Translation; Oxford University Press, 2008)
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (1989 / New Translation by Joyce Crick; Oxford University Press, 2008)
Joel Whitebook, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freud-Intellectual-Biography-Joel-Whitebook/dp/0521864186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1548850364&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Joel+Whitebook+Freud%3A+An+Intellectual+Biography" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Freud: An Intellectual Biography</a> (Cambridge: University Press, 2017)
Joel Whitebook, Freud: An Intellectual Biography (Cambridge: University Press, 2017)

The Standard Edition of the Complet Works of Sigmund Freud translated by James Strachey in collaboration with Anna Freud is available online (and for free download in Ivan Smith’s edition).

But, try the refreshing translation by Joyce Crick, who already worked on Kafka and the Grimms. Her translation closely follows Freud’s very particular literary style, which, if you ever read a piece of the German original, was obviously of the utmost importance to him.

Also, if you read Peter Gay on Freud, you should try to read Élisabeth Roudinesco’s highly acclaimed Freud, In His Time and Ours if you haven’t done so yet.

Elisabeth Roudinesco, Freud: In His Time and Ours (Paris: Seuil, 2014)
Élisabeth Roudinesco, Freud: In His Time and Ours (Paris: Seuil, 2014 / Catherine Porter, Translator; Harvard University Press, 2016)
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time, (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1988), ISBN: 978-0393328615, 864 pages.
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time, (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1988), ISBN: 978-0393328615, 864 pages.
Peter Gay, A Godless Jew: Freud, Atheism, and the Making of Psychoanalysis, (1987), ISBN: 978-0300046083, 182 pages.
Peter Gay, A Godless Jew: Freud, Atheism, and the Making of Psychoanalysis, (1987), ISBN: 978-0300046083, 182 pages.
Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Freud’s Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable (Yale University Press, 1993)
Adam Phillips, Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst (Jewish Lives), (Yale University Press, 2014)
Adam Phillips, Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst (Jewish Lives), (Yale University Press, 2014)
Paul Ricoeur, Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation (Paris: Seuil, 1965 / Yale U. Press, 1970)
Paul Ricoeur, Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation (Paris: Seuil, 1965 / Yale U. Press, 1970)
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization - A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (Boston: Beacon, 1955)
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (Boston: Beacon, 1955)
Jacqeus Lacan, Jacques-Alain Miller, Sylvana Tomaselli (Translator), The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955 (Vol. Book II) (Seminar of Jacques Lacan)
Jacqeus Lacan, Jacques-Alain Miller, The Ego in Freud’s Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis (Seminar of Jacques Lacan)
Edward W Said, Freud and the Non-European (New York: Verso, 2003)
Edward W Said, Freud and the Non-European (New York: Verso, 2003)
Stefan Zweig, On Sigmund Freud (Plunkett Lake Press, 2012)
Stefan Zweig, On Sigmund Freud (Plunkett Lake Press, 2012)
Edmund Engelman (Author, Photographer), Peter Gay (Introduction), Berggasse 19: Sigmund Freud's Home and Office, Vienna, 1938: The Photographs of Edmund Engelman, (University of Chicago Press, 1981)
Edmund Engelman (Author, Photographer), Peter Gay (Introduction), Berggasse 19: Sigmund Freud’s Home and Office, Vienna, 1938: The Photographs of Edmund Engelman, (U. of Chicago Press, 1981)
Michael Molnar, Looking through Freud's Photos (The History of Psychoanalysis Series)
Michael Molnar, Looking through Freud’s Photos (The History of Psychoanalysis Series) (Karnac Books, 2014)
Joel Levy, Freudian Slips (OMara, 2013)
Joel Levy, Freudian Slips: All The Psychology You Need To Know (London: Michael OMara, 2013)
Joseph H. Berke, The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots, (Karnac Books, 2015).
Émile H. Malet, Freud, un homme juif? (Paris. Campagne Première, 2016)
Émile H. Malet, Freud, un homme juif? (Paris. Campagne Première, 2016) *
Freud, et l’homme juif by Émile H. Malet presented during a conference of the same name at the International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem on September 25 and 26, 2016.

Jewish Cuisine

As far as cookbooks go, Claudia Roden is my all-time favorite author. The books listed below, including the above-mentioned In Memory’s Kitchen – A Legacy from the Women of Terezin, somewhat, through various angles, all relate to cooking as it was practiced in Vienna.

Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey From Samarkand to New York, (New York: Knopf, 1986)
Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey From Samarkand to New York, (New York: Knopf, 1986)
שמיל הולנד, שמאלץ: המטבח היהודי המזרח-אירופאי. מתכונים, מסורות וסיפורי סבתא, (מושב בן-שמן: הוצאת קרפד ומודן הוצאה לאור בע"ם, 2011)
שמיל הולנד, שמאלץ: המטבח היהודי המזרח-אירופאי. מתכונים, מסורות וסיפורי סבתא, (מושב בן-שמן: הוצאת קרפד ומודן הוצאה לאור בע”ם, 2011)
András Koerner - Jewish Cuisine in Hungary: A Cultural History with 83 Authentic Recipes (Central European University Press, 2019)
András Koerner, Jewish Cuisine in Hungary: A Cultural History with 83 Authentic Recipes (Central European University Press, 2019)
Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Jerusalem: A Cookbook (Berkeley: Ten SPeed Press, 2012)
Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Jerusalem: A Cookbook (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2012)

 Jewish cooking with Joan Nathan

Cookbooks by the leading figure of Jewish food writing shaped the narrative of Jewish cuisine of the past decades:

Joan Nathan, King Solomon's Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World (New York: Knopf, 2017)
Joan Nathan (Author), Alice Waters (Forword),  King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World (New York: Knopf, 2017)
Joan Nathan, Jewish Cooking in America. Expanded Edition (New York: Knopf, 1989)
Joan Nathan, Jewish Cooking in America. Expanded Edition (New York: Knopf, 1989)
Joan Nathan, The Foods of Israel Today: More than 300 Recipes and Memories Reflecting Israel's Past and Present Through Its Many Cuisines (New York: Knopf, 2001)
Joan Nathan, The Foods of Israel Today: More than 300 Recipes and Memories Reflecting Israel’s Past and Present Through Its Many Cuisines (New York: Knopf, 2001)
Joan Nathan, Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Revised and Updated (New York: Schocken, 2014)
Joan Nathan, Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Revised and Updated (New York: Schocken, 2004)

Sweet Vienna: Desserts and Pastries

No contest, Vienna is the world’s capital for all things sweet. Even the French, who, granted, have got Pierre Hermé, call their pastries viennoiseries, or “things of Vienna”. Sigmund Freud’s dessert was apple strudel with Schlag, whipped cream (See my article on Crispy Viennese Apple Strudel). Here in Vienna, people do eat sweet things as the main course! Today Vienna is the city with the most ice cream parlors per capita in the world. Freud himself loved homemade vanilla parfait. If you are looking for the classic on cakes in general, the cake bible has been written by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Rick Rodgers, Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague, (Guilford, VT: Echo Point Books & Media, Revised edition, 2014)
Rick Rodgers, Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague, (Guilford, VT: Echo Point Books & Media, Revised edition, 2014)
Dietmar Fercher, Andrea Karrer, Austrian Desserts and Pastries: Over 100 Classic Recipes, (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, [2011] reprint 2016)
Dietmar Fercher, Andrea Karrer, Austrian Desserts and Pastries: Over 100 Classic Recipes, (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, [2011] reprint 2016)
Lilly Joss Reich, The Viennese Pastry Cookbook, (Newton Highlands, MA: Jessicas Biscuit, 1996)
Lilly Joss Reich, The Viennese Pastry Cookbook, (Newton Highlands, MA: Biscuit Books, 1996)
Marcia Colman Morton, The Art of Viennese Pastry (New York: Doubleday , 1969)
Marcia Colman Morton, The Art of Viennese Pastry (New York: Doubleday, 1969) *
* Incidentally, Marcia Colman Morton’s husband was Austrian-born American writer Frederic Morton.

Italian Jewish Cooking

Italy was always very present in Viennese cuisine and Sigmund Freud’s dreams and voyages. Once one has cooked and read the Italian recipes found in Claudia Roden’s, The Book of Jewish Food or Joan Nathan’s, King Solomon’s Table, one will inevitably turn to the books bellow. Not listed is Claudia Roden’s 2014 The Food of Italy. Region by Region, because, though the book is a major source of information, it does not focus on Jewish cooking. Missing for the same reason is the classic must-read cookbook on Italian cuisine Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, I: Traditional Recipes and Menus and a Memoir of a Vanished Way of Life (Giro Press, 2nd & Revised ed. 1993)
Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, I: Traditional Recipes and Menus and a Memoir of a Vanished Way of Life (Croton-on-Hudson: Giro Press, [1981] 2nd & Revised ed. 1993)
Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, II: More Menus, Recollections and Recipes, (Croton-on-Hudson: Giro Press, 1992)
Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, II: More Menus, Recollections and Recipes, (Croton-on-Hudson: Giro Press, 1992)
Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Dolci of the Italian Jews, A World of Jewish Desserts (Croton-on-Hudson: Giro Press, 1999)
Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Dolci of the Italian Jews, A World of Jewish Desserts, (Croton-on-Hudson: Giro Press, 1999)
Joyce Goldstein, Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998)
Joyce Goldstein, Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998)

in Italian:

Bruna Tedeschi, La mia cucina ebraica romanesca, (Rome: Logart Press, 2008)
Bruna Tedeschi, La mia cucina ebraica romanesca, (Rome: Logart Press, 2008)
Joan Rundo, La cucina ebraica in Italia. Oltre 200 ricette dalla tradizione, (Casale Monferrato: Sonda, 2003)
Joan Rundo, La cucina ebraica in Italia. Oltre 200 ricette dalla tradizione, (Casale Monferrato: Sonda, 2003)
Maria Agostini, La cucina popolare veneto ebraica, (Venice: Filippi Edittore, 2001), ISBN: 9788864950037, 92 pages.
Maria Agostini, La cucina popolare veneto ebraica, (Venice: Filippi Edittore, 2001), ISBN: 9788864950037, 92 pages.
Maria Agostini, Dolci ebraici della tradizione veneziana / Jewish Cakes in the Venetian Tradition, (Venice: Filippi Editore, 1995), ISBN: 9788864950204, 80 pages.
Maria Agostini, Dolci ebraici della tradizione veneziana / Jewish Cakes in the Venetian Tradition, (Venice: Filippi Editore, 1995), ISBN: 9788864950204, 80 pages.

I’ll add one more Venetian cookbook, though not focusing on Jewish cuisine at all, it is one of my favorite cookbooks on the Serenissima. It’s Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (Of Sorts) by Russell Norman.

Jewish Vegetarianism (and even Veganism)

Jacob Ari Labendz (Ed), Shmuly Yanklowitz (Ed), Jewish Veganism and Vegetarism - Studies and New Directions, (Albany, Suny Press, 2020)
Jacob Ari Labendz (Ed), Shmuly Yanklowitz (Ed), Jewish Veganism and Vegetarism – Studies and New Directions, (Albany, Suny Press, 2020)
Louis Arthur Berman, Vegetarianism and the Jewish Tradition, (New York: Ktav, 1982)
Louis Arthur Berman, Vegetarianism and the Jewish Tradition, (New York: Ktav, 1982)
Gil Marks, Olive Trees and Honey - A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World, (Hoboken: WIley, 2005)
Gil Marks, Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World, (Hoboken: Wiley, 2005)

A few wonderful books on this important and very popular topic.

For those who try to cut down on animal products, famous food journalist Mark Bittman’s approach might be the way to go, The VB6 [Vegan Before Six O’Clock] Cookbook: More than 350 Recipes for Healthy Vegan Meals All Day and Delicious Flexitarian Dinners at Night.

David Sears. The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism, (New York: self published, 2014)
David Sears.The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism, (New York: self-published 2014)
Richard Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism (New York: Lantern Books, 2001)
Richard Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, (New York: Lantern Books, 2001)
Judith Gethers, Elizabeth Lefft, The World-Famous Ratner's Meatless Cookbook (New York, 1975)
Judith Gethers, Elizabeth Lefft, The World-Famous Ratner’s Meatless Cookbook (New York, 1975)
Fania Lewando (Author), Joan Nathan (Foreword), The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: Garden-Fresh Recipes Rediscovered and Adapted for Today's Kitchen, (New York: Schocken, 2015)
Fania Lewando (Author), Joan Nathan (Foreword), The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: Garden-Fresh Recipes Rediscovered and Adapted for Today’s Kitchen, (New York: Schocken, 2015)
Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals (2010)
Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals (2010)
Paola Gavin, Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking, (Quadrille Publishing, 2017)
Mollie Katzen, The Moosewood Cookbook: 40th Anniversary Edition, (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, [1977] 40th anniversary ed. 2014)
Mollie Katzen, The Moosewood Cookbook: 40th Anniversary Edition, (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, [1977] 40th-anniversary ed. 2014) and later books by the Moosewood restaurant’s collective.
Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Vegan with a Vengeance, 10th Anniversary Edition: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock, (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong Books, [10th Anniversary edition] 2015)
Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Vegan with a Vengeance, 10th Anniversary Edition: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock, (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong Books, [10th Anniversary edition] 2015)

Sex in Vienna

Wien Museum (Editor), Sex in Wien, (Vienna, Metroverlag, 2016)
Wien Museum (Editor), Sex in Wien, (Vienna, Metroverlag, 2016)

Turn-of-the-century Vienna was an aesthetic, intellectual, and erotic world, “full of dangerously infectious eroticism”, writes Stefan Zweig in, The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European.

During those years, Vienna became the birthplace of psychoanalysis, waltz, tortes and schnitzel, the novels of Schnitzler, and modern-day anti-Semitism among many other ideas that shaped the West:

Clemens Ruthner, Raleigh Whitinger (Editors), Contested Passions: Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Modern Austrian Literature and Culture (English and German Edition), (Pieterlen, Bern: Peter Lang, 2011)
Clemens Ruthner, Raleigh Whitinger (Editors), Contested Passions: Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Modern Austrian Literature and Culture (MALCA conference, Edmonton, 2007), (Pieterlen, Bern: Peter Lang, 2011)
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus in Furs (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1870)
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus in Furs (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1870 / Joachim Neugroschel, translator; London: Penguin, revised edition, 2000)
Arthur Schnitzler, Dream Story, (Francfort/M: S. Fischer, 1926)
Arthur Schnitzler, Dream Story, (Frankfurt/M: S. Fischer, 1926 / J. M. Q. Davies, translator; London, Penguin, 2004)
Felix Salten, The Memoirs of Josephine Mutzenbacher, (Vienna: 1906)
Felix Salten, The Memoirs of Josephine Mutzenbacher, (Vienna: 1906 / Rudolf Schleifer, translator; North Hollywood: Brandon House 1967)
David S. Luft, Eros and Inwardness in Vienna: Weininger, Musil, Doderer, (Univ of Chicago Press, 2003)
David S. Luft, Eros and Inwardness in Vienna: Weininger, Musil, Doderer, (Univ of Chicago Press, 2003)
Chandak Sengoopta. Otto Weininger: Sex, Science, and Self in Imperial Vienna (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society), (University Of Chicago Press, 2000)
Chandak Sengoopta. Otto Weininger: Sex, Science, and Self in Imperial Vienna (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society), (University Of Chicago Press, 2000)
Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Egon Schiele: Eros and Passion, (New York, London: Prestel, 1999)
Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Egon Schiele: Eros and Passion, (New York, London: Prestel, 1999)
Britta McEwen, Sexual Knowledge: Feeling, Fact, and Social Reform in Vienna, 1900-1934 (Austrian and Habsburg Studies), (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2012)
Britta McEwen, Sexual Knowledge: Feeling, Fact, and Social Reform in Vienna, 1900-1934 (Austrian and Habsburg Studies), (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2012)

Other famous Viennese (and a cat)

Here are a few more Viennese who haven’t been mentioned elsewhere on this page. Christoph Waltz, the perfect villain with an Austrian accent is one of them. (If you don’t know who Christoph Waltz is, it’s about time to watch Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.)

John Gribbin, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality, (New York: Bantam, 1984)
John Gribbin, In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality, (New York: Bantam, 1984)
Viktor E Frankl, Man s Search For Meaning (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1946)
Viktor E Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning (…To Nevertheless Say ‘Yes’ to Life: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camps) (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1946)
Karl Popper (Author), Alan Ryan (Introduction), E. H. Gombrich (Contributor), The Open Society and Its Enemies ([London: Routledge , 1945] Princeton University Press, 2013)
Karl Popper, E.H. Gombrich (Contributor), The Open Society and Its Enemies ([London: Routledge , 1945] Princeton U. Press, 2013)
Alfred Adler, Understanding Life (Der Sinn des Lebens), (1933)
Alfred Adler, Understanding Life (Der Sinn des Lebens), (1933)
Martin Buber, I And Thou (1923/ English 1937)
Martin Buber, I And Thou, (1923/ English 1937)
Julia Kristeva, Melanie Klein (Paris: Fayard, 2000 / New York: Columbia U. Press, 2004)
Julia Kristeva, Melanie Klein (Paris: Fayard, 2000 / New York: Columbia U. Press, 2004)
Anna Freud, Normality and Pathology in Childhood (Karnac Books, 1989)
Anna Freud, Normality and Pathology in Childhood (Karnac Books, 1989)
Tom Segev, Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends, (Jerusalem: Keter, 2010 / New York: Doubleday, 2010)
Tom Segev, Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends,(Jerusalem: Keter, 2010 / New York: Doubleday, 2010)
Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, (New York: Knopf, 1976)
Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, (New York: Knopf, 1976)
Friedrich Stadler, The Vienna Circle: Studies in the Origins, Development, and Influence of Logical Empiricism, (New York, Vienna: Springer, 2001)
Friedrich Stadler, The Vienna Circle: Studies in the Origins, Development, and Influence of Logical Empiricism, (New York, Vienna: Springer, 2001)
Stella Klein-Löw, Bruno Kreisky: Ein Portrat in Worten, Vienna: Jungbrunnen, 1983)
Stella Klein-Löw, Bruno Kreisky: Ein Porträt in Worten, (Vienna: Jungbrunnen, 1983)
Otto Rank (author), Anaïs Nin (Foreword), Art and Artist - Creative Urge and Personality Development (1932 / Norton, 1989)
Otto Rank (author), Anaïs Nin (Foreword), Art and Artist – Creative Urge and Personality Development (1932 / Norton, 1989)
Jean Amery, At the Mind s Limits - Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and its Realities (Munich: Szczesny, 1966)
Jean Amery, At the Mind s Limits – Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and its Realities (Munich: Szczesny, 1966)
Mira Lobe, Hoppelpopp and the Best Bunny (Vienna: Jungbrunnen, 1977)
Mira Lobe, Hoppelpopp and the Best Bunny (Vienna: Jungbrunnen, 1977)
Fritz Grünbaum & Karl Farkas, Altmeister des Humors (Doppelconferénce)
Fritz Grünbaum & Karl Farkas, Altmeister des Humors (Doppelconferénces)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Jewish with Feeling – A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice (Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT: 2013)

 Vienna: Documentaries

East of War (Jenseits des Krieges) (Ruth Beckermann, 1996)
East of War Jenseits des Krieges) (Ruth Beckermann, 1996)
Return to Vienna (Wien Retour) (Ruth Beckermann, 1983)
Return to Vienna (Wien Retour) (Ruth Beckermann, 1983)
Watermarks - The Jewish swimming champions who defied Hitler (Yaron Zilberman, 2004)
Watermarks – The Jewish swimming champions who defied Hitler (Yaron Zilberman, 2004)
Stealing Klimt (Jane Chablani, 2007)
Stealing Klimt (Jane Chablani, 2007)
also

Mirjam Unger’s 2007 Vienna’s Lost Daughters 

BBC documentaries

Vienna: Selected Movies

The following movies are set in Vienna. The Wedding March by Erich von Stroheim is my favorite movie on this list. But there are quite some famous filmmakers from Vienna: Michael Haneke, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Ulrich Seidl, Erich von Stroheim, Otto Preminger, Josef von Sternberg, Fred Zinnemann, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Peter Kubelka, Axel Corti, Peter Tscherkassky, Martin Arnold, and Ruth Beckermann among others.

Try to see these movies on an actual big screen. Even in Vienna, there are still some theaters left. But there’s also the Film Museum Wien and a Film Archiv Austria.

Young Dr Freud (Axel Corti - 1976)
Young Dr. Freud (Der junge Freud) (Axel Corti, 1976)
Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995)
Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995)
The Third Man (Carol Reed - 1949)
The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
The Wedding March (Erich von Stroheim - 1928)
The Wedding March (Erich von Stroheim,  1928)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls - 1948)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948)
The Joyless Street (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1925)l
The Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse)(Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1925)
Museum Hours (Jem Cohen - 2012)
Museum Hours (Jem Cohen, 2012)
Welcome in Vienna - A Trilogie by Axel Cortie - I, God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore 2, Santa Fe 3, Welcome in Vienna (Axel Corti - 1982-86)
Welcome in Vienna: A Trilogy. I, God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore 2, Santa Fe 3, Welcome in Vienna (Axel Corti, 1982-86)
Liebelei (Max Ophüls, 1933)
Liebelei (Max Ophüls, 1933)
Amadeux - Director s Cut (Milos Forman, 1982)
Amadeus – Director’s Cut (Milos Forman, 1982)
Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001)
Piano Teacher (La Pianiste) (Michael Haneke, 2001)
Malina (Werner Schroeter, 1991)
Malina (Werner Schroeter, 1991)
Liliom (Fritz Lang, 1934)
Liliom (Fritz Lang, 1934)
The Mysterious Lady (Fred Niblo, 1928)
The Mysterious Lady (Fred Niblo, 1928)
The Marriage Circle (Ernst Lubitsch, 1924)
The Marriage Circle (Ernst Lubitsch, 1924)
Merry-Go-Round (Erich von Stroheim, 1923)
Merry-Go-Round (Erich von Stroheim, 1923)
Colonel Redl (Oberst Redl) (Istvan Szabo, 1985)
Colonel Redl (Oberst Redl) (Istvan Szabo, 1985)
Waltzes from Vienna aka Strauss Great Waltz (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934)
Waltzes from Vienna aka Strauss’ Great Waltz (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934)
The Illusionist (Neil Burger, 2006)
The Illusionist (Neil Burger, 2006)
Dog Days (Ulrich Seidl, 2001)
Dog Days (Hundstage) (Ulrich Seidl, 2001)
Must see in German (without subtitles):
Of historic interest:
Die Stadt Ohne Juden (Hans Karl Breslauer, 1924)
Die Stadt Ohne Juden (Hans Karl Breslauer, 1924)

Of historic interest only, is the recently saved, expressionist The City Without Jews (Die Stadt ohne Juden) from 1924. The film closely follows Hugo Bettauer’s eponymous novel, but adds a happy ending to the book, and thus turns it into “[…] a prime example of the Austrian soul’s ability to repress. This naïve and perhaps crude experiment from 1924 can be taken as a forerunner of what was generally practiced after World War II in the country ohne Eigenschaften2

Sissi (Ernst Marischka, 1955)
Sissi (Ernst Marischka, 1955)

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known to her family as “Sissi”, entered popular culture with this series of three films that started in 1955. Historical accuracy is not a quality of the film, but as critiques have always pointed out, kitsch is. Even Sissi herself, the lead actress Romy Schneider, who became synonymous with her role, desperately tried to distance her work from that image. According to Wikipedia Sissi is one of the most successful German-speaking movies ever made.
I’d much rather see the original Sissi comedy movie, The King Steps Out (1936), albeit a minor Josef von Sternberg, another famous Viennese in Hollywood.

Freud Movies

(Don’t write me to tell me that there’s a Netflix series out there called nothing less but “Freud” because I can not recommend this production on many grounds, not the least being that it is full of historic inaccuracies.)

Young Dr Freud (Axel Corti - 1976)
Young Dr. Freud (Der junge Freud) (Axel Corti – 1976)
A Dangerous Method - Based On The True Story of Jung, Freud And The Patient Who Came Between Them (David Cronenberg, 2011)
A Dangerous Method – Based On The True Story of Jung, Freud And The Patient Who Came Between Them (David Cronenberg, 2011)
Freud - The Secret Passion (John Huston, 1962)
Freud – The Secret Passion (John Huston, 1962)
When Nietzsche Wept (Pinchas Perry, 2007)
When Nietzsche Wept (Pinchas Perry, 2007)
Documentaries

Don’t forget to have a look at my commented list of Vienna’s 14 Must-See Sights and Activities!

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Footnotes

  1. Comment by user fabian f. in the forum of Austrian newspaper Der Standard on March 14 2017upon reading that Vienna ranks at the top position of Mercer’s quality of life study for the eighth year in a row.
  2. Thomas Ballhausen, Günter Krenn: (Alb)Traumhaft: Die Stadt ohne Juden. In: Medienimpulse, Heft Nr. 57, September 2006, pp. 35 – 39 (digitised, viewed on 19 January 2008)

4 Comments

  1. Do you have The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity Paperback by Marsha L. Rozenblit

    1. Hi Elizabeth,
      I don’t know if I understand correctly:
      – Do I have the book in my library? Yes, because it’s a thorough survey of turn-of-the-century Vienna’s Jewish community, with a lot of statistical data, but I guess you know that.
      – Do I sell this book (or any other book)? No, I don’t sell anything, but it is readily available used and new here https://www.amazon.com/Jews-Vienna-1867-1914-Assimilation-Identity/dp/0873958454 or here https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9780873958455&sts=t
      – Should I have listed the book? I think it is not as accessible and general as the publication’s title would suggest, but I will maybe add a link to it nonetheless, now that you made me think of it again.
      Thank you, Elizabeth!

  2. I love how you put Molly Kaizen and Isa Chandra in this trajectory. I really love and count on Love and Knishes by Sara Kasdan, and was recently given a really interesting book about the creation of “Israeli Cuisine” called In Search of Plenty by Oded Schwartz who I think was a really interesting person. Am loving The Gefilte Manifesto too. I must say your fancy Matzoh Brei on your Instagram made me laugh so much.

    1. Thank you so much for your support and those suggestions, Anne! The Gefilte Manifesto is an interesting exercise and the idea is quite close to what I’m doing here regarding food eaten by the Viennese and Jewish Viennese in particular. All the best, and thanks again, Nino

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