Premium
Aphorism and Sprachkrise in Turn‐of‐the‐Century Austria
Author(s) -
Gray Richard T.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.1986.tb00555.x
Subject(s) - aphorism , skepticism , phenomenon , expression (computer science) , power (physics) , philosophy , literature , epistemology , art , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
Summary The phenomenon called “Sprachkrise,” and its concomitant “Sprachkritik,” has commonly been regarded as central to intellectuals of the turn of the century in Austria. This essay seeks to explain the proliferation of aphoristic forms among these thinkers and writers as a phenomenon which is inherently connected with scepticism regarding the expressive capacities of language. The problematics of aphoristic expression and the crisis of language are investigated in works by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Robert Musil, Karl Kraus, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.