The demons (Doderer)

The demons. According to the chronicle of the Section Council Geyrenhoff , a 1956 novel by Heimito von Doderer is .

Origin, position in the overall work

Doderer considered The Demons to be his main work; The scope and duration confirm this assessment. From the end of 1929 Doderer worked on a novel project entitled Big Ladies , which was renamed after a few years in The Demons of the Ostmark . In his application to the Reichsschrifttumskammer from 1936 , Doderer describes his major novel project as depicting the “tearing seam” (between Jews and non-Jews) that ran through Viennese society (at the end of the twenties) and that the author “already felt everywhere due to the purity of his blood ”. In the said letter, Doderer notes that he is trying “to present this 'Theatrum Judaicum', so to speak, on three floors: on the level of family and erotic life, on the level of the press and the public, and finally on the level of the economy in the world of the great Banks ". Wolfgang Fleischer (* 1943), Doderer's biographer and last secretary, states here in view of the fact that Doderer was able to take over a large part of his text from the thirties when he finished his novel project: “The 'Theatrum Judaicum'” is “not a disgraceful original Version of the 'demons', from which everything that was disreputable was later removed ”, but rather“ corresponds to the version available today ”. Around 1936 Doderer left the project because of conceptual difficulties that he was only able to overcome after turning away from National Socialism and turning to Catholicism. He then first worked out the novel Die Strudlhofstiege or Melzer and the depth of the years , which was expressly intended as a “ramp” to the main work (originated from 1946–48, published 1951), before The Demons were completed in 1951–56 . With around 1300 pages, Die Demonen is a good third more extensive than Die Strudlhofstiege .

content

The novel is set between autumn 1926 and midsummer 1927 mainly in Vienna and its immediate surroundings, as well as in the Viennese summer resort ( Rax , Semmering ), Burgenland, Carinthia, Munich and London. The plot consists of episodes from the lives of tens of characters who are related to each other as relatives, acquaintances, friends, lovers and neighbors. As a contemporary historical background, the release of the Austrian assets in England in 1926, the disputes with Hungarian nationalists over Burgenland , which only came to Austria in 1921, the Schattendorfer shooting of January 30, 1927 and as the end point towards which much in the book is coming, are discussed . the revolt of July 15, 1927 against the acquittal of the perpetrators of Schattendorf, which begins with a power cut and leads to the Vienna Justice Palace fire.

In terms of the time frame, Die Demonen follows closely on Die Strudlhofstiege , which is set mainly in 1925. Around 30 characters from the Strudlhofstiege reappear in the demons , and yet it is not a sequel: both novels can be read independently of one another or in any order. For the most part, characters who played a major role in one novel only appear marginally in the other. Exceptions are René Stangeler, obviously an alter ego of the author Doderer, and Mary K., whose tram accident forms the vanishing point of the Strudlhofstiege and who learns to live with a prosthetic leg in one of the first chapters of demons .

As the subtitle suggests, the novel is in the form of a chronicle. As you can already see in the prologue, this chronicle was only edited in 1955 by the now very old Councilor von Geyrenhoff. It consists partly of Geyrenhoff's own notes - who at the time expressly understood himself as a "chronicler" until he saw himself as a failure in this self-imposed task due to increasing involvement - as well as texts that were supplied to him by other characters (are expressly named Schlaggenberg and Stangeler). Sections from these stylistically different "sources" follow one another like a collage without explicitly identifying the respective "authors"; Guessing these is part of the pleasure of reading.

The overarching story arc consists of the formation and disintegration of a loose clique (“ours”) of people from better society who go on excursions together, celebrate a “foundation party”, celebrate a table tennis five o'clock tea and almost incessantly cross each other to run. Among the intrigues, the most expansive one that spans the entire book, is the story of Charlotte von Schlaggenberg, known as "Quapp", a person of "habitual ignorance" who is roughly the last to find out who her parents were and that she is the heiress of a fortune in the millions is that it was almost suppressed.

Further storylines are, for example, the discovery of an early New High German manuscript about an abstruse witch trial by René Stangeler; his difficult relationship with Grete Siebenschein; the development novel by the worker Leonhard Kakabsa, who teaches himself Latin and soon finds access to the higher classes; the marriage of the writer Kajetan von Schlaggenberg, who divorced after a few weeks and who henceforth devotes himself to the search for an ideal type of fat women. There are also studies from the whores and criminals in Brigittenau as well as about the patronage genealogy in a newspaper office. Above all, however, the novel reflects in the finest nuances the customs of social behavior in upper-class to aristocratic circles.

Another main character is, so to speak, Vienna: entire pages are devoted to the description of urban landscapes, in Döbling the change of the seasons is experienced intensely, and street by street the trajectories on which the human protagonists move are often explained, thus almost inevitably bringing about encounters.

Staff (with text samples)

Page references refer to the dtv edition (probably on the same page as Beck 1995). Text quotations in italics.

• Altschul, Edouard, bank director. Brought into connection with Levielle and Mährischl and the “Alliance” through Lasch (398ff.).
• Altschul, Rosi, wife of the bank director, member of the bridge group in the café on Franz-Josephs-Kai (56).
• Bullogg, Prof., historian in Cambridge, Mass., Previously Balogh (Balogh is a Hungarian family name as a variant of Balog (Old Hungarian: "left-handed")) and was a grammar school professor in Budapest (1106), son-in-law of Mme. Libesny ( 823), brother of Mrs. Garrique.
• Bullogg, son, called Bully (1187): the fat little boy of Professor Bullogg learned German from his mother and speaks it perfectly (1123).
• Catona, Dr., doctor in Brigittenau, family doctor at Storchs (519).
• Catona, Lily, daughter of the doctor (517), is studying with her school friend Fella Storch.
• Charagiel, Claire Countess, née Baroness Neudegg. Her death in mid-February 1927 (688) released those who knew about her from the obligation to keep Charlotte von Schlaggenberg's ancestry a secret.
• Cobler, editor-in-chief (331) from Chernivtsi (338).
• Croix, Prince Alfons (201), 1896 Rittmeister and Escadrons Commander with the Dragoons in Brandeis (576), known to Geyrenhoff from the one-year volunteer school, has recently moved into a palace with a large library belonging to the Family Entity Commission (841), plays the piano masterfully (847).
• Csmarits, Mathias, historical figure (1892–1927), victim of the Schattendorfer shooting with his nephew Joseph Grössing . One-eyed war invalid, member of the Republican Schutzbund in Klingenbach in Burgenland (554, 622), brother of Mrs. Kapsreiter (890).
• Diwald, Anna, called Didi (325), friend of Anny Gräven (614), pourer in Freud's brandy tavern (910)
• Döblinger, Dr., pseudonym von Schlaggenberg.
• Draxler, Dr. Beppo, old friend of Grete Siebenschein (195), plays the guitar very well (437).
• Drobil, Emma, ​​from Prague. Since she was equally capable of shorthand in English, Czech and German, mastered commercial correspondence and was, on top of that, a clever and even educated person (for example: passable Latin!), The appearance of her pretty face at a well-known transport company inevitably soon led to the offer of an advantageous one Position after himself, not to mention that the Drobila was tall and well-built, and that her breasts marched before her in considerable procession like a herald (28). Soon engaged to Dwight Williams.
• Dulnik, director of a paper mill (245), client of Dr. Trapp (211), marries his daughter.
• Ederl, master painter, was a master at 'Schnapsen'. In painting he had never actually passed the master craftsman's examination (130). Weinmann's regular guest.
• Eulenfeld, Otto von, the war captain , his left knee was in 1915 partly on the famous road junction at Ypres remained . Informer for Geyrenhoffs Chronik (10), German, from Düsseldorf, in a leading position at the Vienna branch of CC Wakefield & Co. Ltd. (76), "Big Chief" of a gang called "troupeau" (283). Explicitly alcoholics at the end of the book.
• Fiedler, bookseller.
• Fiedler, Malva, daughter and employee of the bookseller (139f.). She was long learned and finished. She was twenty-seven years old. She was a virgin. We mention the last circumstance because we are touching on the Malva fiddler character: it was basically cold; but often whirled up by storms that quickly subsided: then the dust really darkened the sun. Inside her it was sometimes what it may be on the surface of the moon. The green color of her eyes was due to the imprecise border between ice and water: thus the lining of the Malva Fiddler character looked out the window (155).
• Fitalla, editorial clerk (?, 1039).
• Fraunholzer, Robert, Consul General in Belgrade. His affair with the late consul Grauermann, née Etelka von Stangeler, is known from the "Strudlhofstiege" (1253).
• Fraunholzer, Lea, wife of Robert, née Küffer, called Mädi (1252f.).
• Freud, Brandy tavern, not far from the house "Zum Blaue Einhorn", in the IX district, Liechtensteinstrasse (614, 908ff.).
• Frigori, Baron, one of Dr. Trapp (354f.). Such people are common in Vienna. If you treat them badly - but really badly - then they soon become 'traitable' for their part (355).
• Frühwald, Bill, son of a well-known Viennese architect, excellent improviser of easy things on the piano, actually a perfect bar pianist (77), admirer of Lily Catona (1109).
• Gach, Alois, a trained hoof and cars blacksmith, maker on the estate of George of Ruthmayr, military service under captain Prince Croix (576), at war Wachtmeister (455) has Reiter battles fought (581ff.), Now Wagmeister (with this He used a somewhat old-fashioned expression to describe his position as market office commissioner in Eisenstadt (569).
• Garrique, Mrs., sister of Prof. Bullog (1107). To be taken with some certainty for a Budapest Jewess, very sweet, fat and clever and funny (1123).
• Garrique, Monsieur, French with Henri quatre-beard, a wine merchant from Bordeaux (1123).
• Garrique, Gaston, a long, lanky Lulatsch of sixteen (1123).
• Garrique, Lilian. The Garrique children do not speak German (1123).
• Gebaur, Frau Oberstleutnant, mother of Miss Agnes (1047).
• Gebaur, Agnes, represents Mrs. Schnabel as an antechamber from Herzka (677).
• Geiduschek, high school student (673).
• Geyrenhoff, Dr. jur. Georg von, Section Council a. D., reserve officer, released in 1926 thanks to inherited fortune, retired early, chronicler and editor of the book.
• Glaser, Minna, younger sister of Irma Siebenschein and Clarissa Markbreiter, director of the office of one of the most distinguished Viennese hotels (90).
• Glenzler, at Allianz-Zeitung, pretty much at the head of one of the Patronage branches; the other "father of the second degree" is Reichel (332).
• Glöckner, Hedwig, owner of a popular gymnastics school (232f.).
• Gräven, Anny, widow of a dental technician who died of an addiction since she was 34 years old, gets her coke in Café Kaunitz (130), felt unable to do any work and went out on the street in a properly controlled manner (130); He used to say: “I only have an eighth of a brain” (142). The criminal investigation department [was] even aware of their harmlessness.
• Grauermann, Pista, widowed former brother-in-law of Stangeler, known from the "Strudlhofstiege", known in Budapest with Géza von Orkay (491), left the diplomatic service in industry (549).
• Grössing, Josef, called Pepi, called by Licea (Renata Gürtzner) Krächzi , seven-year-old boy, historical personality (1920-27), together with his uncle Mathias Csmarits, victim of the Schattendorfer shooting (554,622), lives in Vienna with Mrs. Kapsreiter (891ff. )
• Güllich, Magdalena, former lover of Herzkas (681): He should have married her. He would have raised her to his wishes (682).
• Gürtzner-Gontard, von, Hofrat, Section Head a. D. (478ff.), A Sazerdotal type (482), son of an officer who deserted to Turkey and rose to bey there .
• Gürtzner-Gontard, Dr. med. Franz von, son of the councilor, (Schwipp) brother-in-law of Prof. Bullogg (1107), a doctor, from Chappaqua, USA, in the state of New York (1121). A slightly grumpy Viennese (1122).
• Gürtzner-Gontard, Melanie von, wife of the court councilor (1242f.).
• Gürtzner-Gontard, Price von, wife of Dr. Franz, daughter of Mrs. Libesny, sister of Mrs. Professor Bullogg (1123).
• Gürtzner-Gontard, Renata von, only named Licea among her comrades (889), a girl of about sixteen years of age , the youngest child of the Councilor (497), already appeared in a key scene at the beginning of the novel without being named: The girl on the ridge , cutting through “ours” on skis (663).
• Gyurkicz von Faddy and Hátfaludy (281), Imre von, Hungarian of doubtful nobility (229f., 919). He really should have written the name with a different ending (230) , really Hungarian - but he was really no impostor, no clever, cunning deceiver (928). Caricaturist for the "Allianz", painter (626ff.). Agent provocateur in Burgenland (634, 913)? No, when Imre came to Schattendorf on the evening before January 30th, he was not burdened by the slightest assignment (933).
• Haupt, Asta, née Stangeler, known from the "Strudlhofstiege", here only a very short appearance (50).
• Herzka, Jan, businessman, his mother was a Baroness Neudegg (436), shows a deep interest in cultural history, namely the witch trials of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (442), and soon (678) inherits Neudegg Castle, where, almost as expected, found a manuscript about a witch trial , quite systematically and flatly (727).
• Hirschkron, master bookbinder, regular guest of the Weinmann (134), represented, probably without knowing it, an absolutely higher class within the mixed fauna occurring here (134), is one of his customers Schlaggenberg (609f.).
• Holder, features editor for an Allianz newspaper (243, 290, 331).
• Höpfner, Robert (232), advertising poet (385).
• Jirasek, master tailor, visits Weinmann every four weeks, and then takes several strange men and women into his apartment (137).
• K., Beatrix, called Trix, daughter of Mary. She had never wanted to go to high school in order to study later. With an eye for early independence, she chose a solid commercial education (519). Bathroom scene with Fella Storch (506f.).
• K., Hubert, brother of Trix, prospective senior high school student (503). There was no back of the head, so to speak, (503), exposes Fella Storch at the rendezvous in Nussdorf (532f.).
• K., Mary, widow since February 1924, lost a leg in a tram accident on September 21, 1925. Lives, like the Siebenschein and Storch families, in Alsergrund , Althanplatz 6 (today Julius-Tandler-Platz), opposite the Franz-Josephs-Bahnhof .
• Kakabsa, Anna, Mrs. Libesny's housemaid (29).
• Kakabsa, Leonhard, brother of Anna and Ludmilla, formerly a sailor on a Danube tug (524), worker in a belt weaving mill (29). Large exposition p. 116ff. Belly boom in German grammar (161).
• Kakabsa, Ludmilla, called Mila, works “in a noble house” (29), namely with Mrs. Ruthmayr.
• Kapsreiter, Anna, widowed for some time, sister of Csmarits, aunt of Pepi Grössing, lives in the house "Zum Blaue Einhorn" (890ff.), Friends with Renata Gürtzner and Sylvia Priglinger.
• Kienbauer, Franziska, secretary who was also the maitresse of editor-in-chief Cobler (331).
• Counterhonz, Laura was, next to his marriage, undoubtedly the darkest chapter in Kajetan's past (294f.). For if someone in old Austria had eaten the commissary bread in honor for more than thirty years, then he was allowed to lose money from the hereditary nobility. The major general, Laura's father, had done both. It was called therefore: von Konterhonz. I never write it because it sounds so gruesome (415).
• Köppel, chief accountant and authorized signatory of Herzka (680).
• Körger, Dr. Kurt, nephew of Geyrenhoff, recently moved in, 27 years old (278). His father was one of the richest men in Austria , an amateur architect (279).
• Krautwurst, Dr. jur. Philemon, Notary (678). Doctor Krautwurst was a clean-shaven, bespectacled, intelligent, detailed catastrophe with great pleasure on his part (683)
• Kries, Lily, née Markbreiter, daughter of Clarissa, thus cousin of Grete, but already married at the age of 23 and thus entitled to participate in the family council (95f.).
• Küffer, owner of the beer breweries of the same name in Döbling. The youngest generation befriended the children of Mary K. (, 1238ff.).
• Lach, escadron trumpeter, witness of Ruthmayr's will (835).
• Langingen, Graf, in Eulenfelds troupeau (76), called Mucki (490f.), Antiques hunter, known from military and administrative service with Geyrenhoff (841).
• Lasch, Cornel, Titi's Gatte (190ff.), Thanks to Levielle's brother, slipped through the meshes of the military law in World War I , from one-year- old volunteer to Landsturm lieutenant [...], who ended up in a leading position at one of those state headquarters , who from the War Ministry took care of the distribution of raw materials and orders to the most important war industries. One can easily imagine that there was a lot to do here for our Lasch. And he did (193). Outside of business and family, he used to talk only about scientific, philosophical or artistic questions, but he always modestly avoided any other subject that was closer to him in social conversation (440). The world, life and society undoubtedly lay around him like an annular bulge pushed to the edge, and what was in the middle was an abundance of relativizations. In the center, however, sat the healthy and always erectable organ for profit. One could talk to Lasch (971).
• Lasch, Edith, called Titi, née Siebenschein, sister of Grete, was thin as a chip and therefore, according to fashionable terms, had a wonderful figure; and just then, when the events of which we are reporting were taking place, this way of looking at woman's beauty was at its peak and was generally in force (190). Leading member of Eulenfeld's Troupeau (464).
• Leucht, Oskar, called Oki, a slaughtered fellow with negro lips (77,502), a knockout one meter and eighty-five (131,502), lover of Dolly Storch, occasional guest at the Weinmann establishment (131).
• Levielle, councilor, resident both in Vienna and Paris, a strange and inexplicable mixture between a grain trader with a diplomatic mission and a diplomat with additional cereal travel destinations (104), widowed, has two sons in good positions at the foreign exchange center (105). With his group majority shareholder of Allianz - Allgemeine Zeitungs AG (290). Executor (392) of Ruthmayr's will and asset manager of his widow. The figure is supposedly based on Rudolf Sieghart ; the family name Levielle is said to refer to the Jewish name Levi.
• Levielle, brother of the Chamber Council, General Staff Doctor in World War I (193) The Levielle brothers were really identical in the noble, vulgar basic idea of ​​their being (195).
• Libesny, comes from Vienna, lives in London, has two daughters married in America (823).
• Likarz (644f., 673).
• Mährischl, Martha (266), introduced to the circle of bridge women by Rosi Altschul (274).
• Mährischl, Dr., Martha's husband, wore, as I noticed, a bracelet made of a thin gold chain (359) around his wrist . Seems familiar with Levielle, but has never been his lawyer (400).
• Malik, Rosi, 'poet' , author of a play 'Kapitän Strichpunkt' or as the Schmarrn is called (382). A Galician megara (1246).
• Markbreiter, Clarissa, sister of Irma Siebenschein, frequented the Bridge-Stube (68).
• Markbreiter, Siegfried
• Mayrinker, Josef, head of a district branch of the Österreichische Creditanstalt, successor to the apartment of Mrs. Kapsreiter in the house "Zum Blaue Einhorn", was only interested in dragons and lindworms (1180ff.).
• Mayrinker, Josef's wife, compulsively cooks down the boil, although most of the time you eat jams that are four to five years old (1281).
• Great Vulture, initially described without naming it: like a naked-necked vulture, with a huge hooked nose [...] and an extremely hideous and, moreover, almost terrible face (43/44). Called 'vulture's beak'. The 'gallery' hardly dared to greet him (595).
• Mörbischer, castellan at Neudegg Castle (710), organ (737).
• Moser, Herzka's office servant, strangely enough, spoke French very well (683).
• Neuberg, Dr., historian, shares office with Stangeler.
• Neudegg, Achaz von, father of Charagiel, cousin of mother von Herzka (683ff.), Lord of the castle with the best cockhunting in Carinthia, was so crazy at the time that he went on the rooster with an ancient crossbow (844).
• Oplatek, apparently the governor of Levielle at the "Allianz" newspaper (331).
• Orkay, Géza von, Hungarian diplomat, attaché in Vienna (278).
• Pawliček, caretaker at Hertha Plankl (612, 617).
• Pinter, Alois, called Pinta, Croat, brother-in-law of Nikolaus Zsarda, winegrower in Stinkenbrunn (543f.). Niki Zdarsa declared the Pinta to be a fascist (559).
• Pinta, Rosalia, wife of Alois, daughter of old Zdarsa (552).
• Plankl, Hertha, professional comrade of Anny Graven, a thick royal blond girl of incredibly low intelligence - the way a Burgenländerin - maintained certain relations with, Gallery ', as they call the professional Easy criminals in Vienna ... Hertha had taken their stupidity because in use to store packages. She did not take any payment for this (594).
• Preschitz, Thomas, historical figure, district leader of the Republican Protection Association and head of the Baumgarten branch, participant in the social democratic assembly in Schattendorf, mentioned as an impressive speaker (551,555).
• Priglinger, Sylvia, called the falcon, trusted friend of Renata Gürtzner (890f.)
• Protopapadakis, called Mr. Prokop, professional cardsharp (1034,1038).
• Riedener, Dipl.-Ing., Guest at the Café Alhambra (1042).
• Rosen, Thea, widow, but she exaggerates it, she turns her widowhood into a profession (93).
• Rottauscher, Hehler (1043).
• Rucktäschl, typesetter at the "Allianz", guest at the Café Alhambra (1039).
• Rugley, Miss, former governess of Charlotte von Schlaggenberg (165).
• Ruthmayr, Friederike von, widow of Rittmeister Georg v. R., heiress of a fortune worth millions, lives in a palace on the Wieden , with a car, chauffeur and house servant (whose name is of course Johann, 148), loves the opera, reads Benedetto Croce (115). Large exposition p. 103ff.
• Santenigg (644f., 673).
• Schedik, medical advisor, father of Camy.
• Schindelka, Josef, servant of Prince Croix, Pepi's father (1216).
• Schlaggenberg, wife of, widow since 1924, mother of Charlotte and Kajetan. Together with her children, heiress of an estate in southern Styria (63) that was heavily burdened after the collapse of the wooden bank (391).
• Schlaggenberg, Camilla von, called Camy, née Schedik. Establishes the connection between Geyrenhoff and Siebenscheins (225). After her divorce, moves to England (226), London, Battersea, Albertstrasse (832).
• Schlaggenberg, Charlotte von, called "Quapp", in the end not even half-sister of Kajetan, torments herself with studying the violin. Exposition p. 164ff.
• Schlaggenberg, Kajetan von, chronicler (10). Novelist, published under the name of Dr. Döblinger (152), occasional customer of the Gräven (600ff.).
• Schnabel, Christine, Herzka's receptionist, was sent to Graz, at least temporarily, as a branch manager shortly before her 60th birthday (677).
• Schoschi, the landlady of Café Kaunitz, would have taken anyone at first sight for a puffmother; but in fact she was the widow of a doctor from Troppau (128), trades in a white powder (129), a kind of canal snail, but unbreakable (130).
• Scolander, Kyrill, writer and oracle, teacher von Schlaggenberg (, 1159ff.).
• Sevczik (547), Hungarian Szefcsik (629), captain, Hungarian, a comfortable executioner , organ of the later Reich Administrator Horthy (547).
• Siebenschein, Dr. jur. Ferry, father of Grete. Lives in the same house as Mary K., one floor down (39). Lawyer, a fat but pale man with a large, spongy face who increased the burden of his profession with an almost too far-reaching honesty (183). Quite capable flute player (429).
• Siebenschein, Grete, Stangeler's bride.
• Siebenschein, Irma, mother of Grete, irregular participant in the Bridge-round in the cafe at the Franz-Josephs-Kai (57), finished piano virtuoso, reads a special preference for the Fritz Reuter in Low German original (58), believes a year zweitausenddreihundertachtundfünzig diseases have (183).
• Slobedeff, Prof. Alexandr Alexandrowitsch, called Sascha, died, had reported to Achaz von Neudegg about Herzka (685), sound poet (737), organist, most recently in Brussels (719).
• Stangeler, Dr. phil. René von, known from "Die Strudlhofstiege", was an ensign with the Dragoons , prisoner of war in Siberia, fled 500 km on foot, studied history, chronicler (10).
• Steuermann, Selma, informant Geyrenhoffs (10), beautiful, member of the bridge group in the café on Franz-Josephs-Kai (57), widow (93) of a commercial councilor (101), studies personals (265).
• Storch, Prof. Dr. med. Oskar, anatomist, director of a university institute (499). Lives on the same floor as Siebenscheins (131) and thus one floor below Mary K. There was moderate traffic with Siebenscheins (500).
• Storch, Käthe, the professor's wife, suffering, is rarely seen (501, 508ff.).
• Storch, Dolly, the anatomy professor's older daughter, a very beautiful, if somewhat plump girl .
• Storch, Felicitas, called Fella, younger sister of Dolly (499).
• Tlopatsch, Councilor, schoolmate of Dr. Ferry seven-pass. All of Vienna knew the small, round, always overly obliging Czech, namely, all of Vienna, as far as music was concerned (427).
• Trapp, Dr., lawyer, homeowner (207).
• Trapp, the lawyer's wife, melted Edam cheese [...] Such brains are, as is well known, much more inexplicable and mysterious than the most powerful genius (354).
• Trapp, Angelika, daughter of the lawyer, engaged to Dr. Neuberg (207).
• Trembloner, Dr., business editor of "Allianz", dependent on Oplatek (331).
• Wangstein, superseded by the "Allianz" (923).
• Waschler, caretaker in the Gürtzner-Gontard house (1276).
• Weilguny, young caricaturist, competitor of Gyurkicz (644,923).
• Weinmann, Risa, formerly the landlady of Café Kaunitz, now has a café far out in the suburb with only three windows in front; The shutters went down just in time for the police hour, everything was tight and you couldn't be disturbed inside. Like Mephisto, Frau Risa could say that she knew how to come to terms with the police; and with all other powers of life in general, starting with the caretaker (127). The café is in Ottakring (131).
• Wiesinger, Fraulein, pianist, however , was not stupid, only utterly cranky, but only became incurable through the fact that she had once got into the hands of a psychoanalyst, moreover as an adolescent, and on top of that: the man was able really helping her. As a result, she had become incurable, because she now held a well-fitting key for everything in the world, whatever other people she noticed (432).
• Williams, Dwight, PhD (27), from Buffalo, entomologist, lived with Madame Libesny in London.
• Wolf, Lea, wife of a doctor, member of the bridge group in the café on Franz-Josephs-Kai (56).
• Xidakis, called Mr. Kaki, colleague of Protopapadakis (1039).
• Zdarsa, father of Nikolaus, father-in-law of Alois Pinter, winegrower in Stinkenbrunn (544), also owned in Mörbisch (545), participation in workers' meetings despite a downright ridiculous ignorance of the goals of the socialist movement (551).
• Zdarsa, Elly, younger sister of Pinta's wife Rosalia, thus also the sister of Nikolaus (550), sucker-like contacts with Leonhard (553).
• Zdarsa, Nikolaus, colleague of Kakabsa (516), single, has a motorcycle bought in installments, with which the relatives in Stinkenbrunn are visited (540).
• Zeitler, Karl, known from the "Strudlhofstiege", policeman (987) in the Brigittenau police station (1115), best friend of Kakabsa (1309).
• Zilcher, Anna, wife of Karl (150).
• Zilcher, Karl, known from the "Strudlhofstiege", colleague of Kakabsa (147, 516).
• Zurek, student of Rottauscher (1043f.).
• Zwicklitzer, high school student (673).
• NN, Anita (?, 1035), friend of Anny Gräven.
• NN, Maruschka, Geyrenhoff's waitress.
• NN, Graf, Ungar, appearance together with Sevczik (546ff.), Via Lieutenant Colonel Hiltl in contact with Eulenfeld and Schlaggenberg (549), Gyurkicz explains as ambiguous .

More text samples

Young people sometimes make the mistake of intervening in the smooth, oiled flow of the phrases because they still consider it more important to contradict than to see that everything rattles nicely on the outside so that one remains undisturbed inside what is really important (105).

In a 'racially pure' society every simple and brutalist who has not gotten ahead will introduce at least one 'Aryan'; the same distinction can, if the 'idealism' is directed differently, be valid for a proletarian. There a supposed commonality of the race, here one of the class, it jumped as if jumping. Classes can become races and vice versa. That was already there. Here in Vienna, a pure profession has even become a kind of race: that of caretakers. Every Viennese knows that. It's similar in Paris. (487f.)

There are people who, assuming they were, despite the most varied of matters, to be punctual without any hindrance, immediately know how to find some kind of distraction from it, which then grows into a detention, even an insurmountable obstacle. It seems that the notorious lack of punctuality is a real insanity; an insurmountable shyness - a 'phobia', as they also say - of punctuality: a persistence; an inability to break free in time (831).

Incidentally, in Austria people who do not enjoy any state or municipal emoluments, pensions, pensions or the like are very rare and are also considered to be inferior (891).

The changes that people make to their circumstances today are almost without exception events of a purposeful nature. Once they have taken place, a slight depression can set in: because one finds oneself between new white or even shiny walls, and all sorts of fresh paintwork and previously unhealthy comfort when he encounters the old donkey, which, if it were a cow, would stand in front of all the splendor, just as this animal usually does in front of the well-known barn door. However, it moves its long ears easily (47).

Evidence and Notes

1. ↑ Text on the blurb of the dtv edition
2. ↑ Quoted from Wolfgang Fleischer: Das verleugnete Leben , Vienna 1996, p. 234
3. ^ Doderer Society / Interview with Wolfgang Fleischer
4. ↑ According to the dtv blurb, not until 1940.
5. ↑ AH in Harenberg. The book of 1000 books . Edited by Joachim Kaiser. Quoted from Amazon product description http://www.amazon.de/Die-D%C3%A4monen-Chronik-Sektionsrates-Geyrenhoff/dp/3423104767
6. ↑ See review by Th. Strobl, http://www.sandammeer.at/rezensions/doderer-daemonen.htm
7. ↑ For information on how the community of Schattendorf deals with his memory, see the archived copy ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
8. ↑ Kai Luehrs-Kaiser (Ed.): “Excentrische Einzüge.” Studies and essays on the work of Heimito von Doderer , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1998, ISBN 978-3-1101-5198-5 , p. 102
9. ↑ http://www.burgenland.at/media/file/429_Schattendorf_1927.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Further information

Web links

• Being and time and the fire at the Palace of Justice , discussed by Thomas Strobl