“Vienna 1900” has become an established cultural coordinate in European cultural history. As the power and influence of the Habsburg Empire started to wane, Austria-Hungary, and especially its capital Vienna, became synonymous with both an almost radical conservatism and radical modernism. Populist conservatives (the Emperor, G. von Schönerer, K. Lueger) coexisted with radical modernists such Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Wittgenstein, or Ernst Mach, creating the feverish breeding ground for an explosion of artistic creativity and innovation (A. Schnitzler, G. Klimt, A. Schönberg). Looking at “Fin de Siècle Vienna” as both a place and a cultural period right before First World War, this seminar will examine some of its most prominent representatives and their contributions to what philosopher Hermann Broch dubbed the “happy apocalypse” that was Vienna 1900. Readings will include texts by Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Sigmund Freud, Karl Krauss, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and we will examine works by visual and musical artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Johann Strauss jr. and Arnold Schönberg. (B. Matthias)