Comical Modernity

Hakkarainens study is grounded in a solid knowledge of the secondary literature on modernity and theories of humor. One of her important claims is that while humorists poked fun at various aspects of the Viennese urban modernity in the making, humor itself was a product of this early modernity. H-Habsburg This book makes an important contribution in demonstrating the deep roots of Viennas modernist culture outside of the high culture that has heretofore received so much attention. The authors analysis of humor journals female readership, which she does by way of their pseudonymous participation in the readers columns, is also much appreciated. Hakkarainens book will be of great interest to gender, Habsburg, Jewish, and urban historians, as well as those interested in Vienna more generally. Central European History Through her penetrating and compelling analysis of humor in connection with the physical expansion of Vienna as a city and the shifting identity models based on gender, class, religion and ethnicity, Heidi Hakkarainen identifies a blend of elements that produced a specifically Viennese humor. Dagmar C. G. Lorenz, University of Illinois at Chicago This impressive and illuminating book represents thoughtful engagement in a wide range of discourses about what it means to be modern, but also opens up questions about what is particularly Viennese. It helps us learn about the city through senses that are often ignoredsmells, tastes, slights and frustrations, but also moments of levity. Britta McEwen, Creighton University

Heidi Hakkarainen is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku, Finland. She has recently contributed to a research project on Viral Culture in Early Nineteenth-Century Europe.

List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Power and Space Chapter 2. Tensions with City Authorities Chapter 3. City out of Control Chapter 4. Knowing the City Chapter 5. Urban Types and Characters Conclusions Bibliography Index