Tropics of Vienna

<p> The Austrian Empire was not a colonial power in the sense that fellow actors like 19th-century England and France were. It nevertheless oversaw a multinational federation where the capital of Vienna was unmistakably linked with its eastern periphery in a quasi-colonial arrangement that inevitably shaped the cultural and intellectual life of the Habsburg Empire. This was particularly evident in the era's colonial utopian writing and <em>Tropics of Vienna</em> blends literary criticism cultural theory and historical analysis to illuminate this curious genre. By analyzing the works of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch Theodor Herzl Joseph Roth and other representative Austrian writers it reveals a shared longing for alternative social and spatial configurations beyond the concept of the nation-state prevalent at the time.</p>