04 Nov 2009

The precious Hugo von Hofmannsthal

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article6902508.ece?&EMC-Bltn=XT3451F

Paul Reitter [Times Literary Supplement, 4 November 2009]

Can a bad economy make for great poetry? Hugo von Hofmannsthal thought so. Indeed, he saw his own gift for lyrical writing and reflection as being, in a way, a consequence of the stock market crash of 1873. This self-understanding starts with the fact that Hofmannsthal was conceived at the very moment of the bust. His father, a banker, got word of it soon after arriving in Naples for his honeymoon.