...is so acute on two sides, dynamic and social, that we would do well simply to quote from his work: "It is always wrong to explain the phenomena of a...country simply by the character of its inhabitants. For the inhabitant of a country has at least nine characters: a professional one, a class one, a geographical...

...respects he was a true son of Austria. As Robert Musil described in his Der Mann Ohne Eigenschaften: "In this country one acted - sometimes indeed to the...in what they thought was the Austrian character." Psychology teaches that during his life an individual tends to repeat patterns of interpersonal relationships...

...Robert Musil who best summarized the contradictions within Austria's nationality question when he wrote: "In this country one acted — sometimes indeed to...thought or one thought differently from the way one acted."24 Indeed, it was the apparent paradox between the reality of government, on one hand, and what...

...indeed to the extreme limits of passion and its consequences—differently from the way one thought, and one thought differently from the way one acted. Uninformed...weakness in what they thought was the Austrian character. What makes the Viennese such complex, contradictory people? The question has puzzled Vienna's satirists...

...an essentialist sense, in modern or modernizing European societies like turn-of-the-century Austria: It is always wrong to explain the phenomena of a country simply by the character of its inhabitants. For the inhabitant of a country has at least nine characters: a professional one, a national one, a...

...erected by Count Potemkin of Russia.12 Robert Musil echoed the same theme. "In this country," he wrote, "one acted — sometimes indeed to the extreme limits...acted. Uninformed observers have mistaken this for charm."13 Others castigated Viennese culture for yet other reasons. For Otto Weininger, as we shall...

...even mistrust of oneself and of one's destiny here assumed the character of profound self-certainty. In this country one acted — sometimes indeed to...consequences — differently from the way one thought, and one thought differently from the way one acted. Uninformed observers have mistaken this for charm,...