What is it about?
Although Anton Kuh (Vienna 1890–New York 1941), in his time one of the most renowned journalists in the German-speaking area, was “rediscovered” in the 1980ies after having been fallen in oblivion, his outstanding oeuvre was flagrantly lacking attention in the academic field, mostly because Mr. Kuh tended to be regarded as a “Kaffeehausliterat”. The “Complete writings” made his journalistic oeuvre accessible to the public in 2016 and did effectively away with that misleading label, revealing him as an eminently political thinker. A monograph published in 2018 made clear that his activities were by no means confined to the Vienna and Prague settings of the monarchy and interwar period. They left a significant mark in the Weimar Republic settings of Berlin and Munich as well. Unrivalled as extempore speaker, Mr. Kuh was not just another Viennese local hero and “coffeehouse writer” in the cozy tradition of Habsburg monarchy clichés, but contributed very actively to the literary, political and social life of his day.
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Why is it important?
Our findings rectify misconceptions by submitting further proof that Anton Kuh was anything but an inconsequential “coffeehouse writer”.
Perspectives
I hope this article will finally do away with the misleading label “Kaffeehausliterat” and will arouse the public’s curiosity for an outstanding personality and his unrivalled oeuvre, unrivalled both in content and, perhaps more important, in style, for Anton Kuh’s sparkling wit and brilliant verve.
Walter Schübler
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This page is a summary of: Vom Bohren harter Bretter: Die Neupositionierung Anton Kuhs, Journal of Austrian Studies, January 2022, Project Muse,
DOI: 10.1353/oas.2022.0009.
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