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facetiously, that we ought to watch with some self-critical care the
current growth of interest in Byzantine studies.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, himself a product of fin-de-siecle
Vienna, observed:
One can imagine an animal angry, frightened, unhappy, happy,
startled. But hopeful: And why not?
A dog believes his master is at the door. But can he also believe
his master will come the day after tomorrow? - And
what
can he
not do here?-How can I do it?-How am I supposed to answer
this?
Can only those hope who can talk? Only those who have
mastered the use of a language. That is to say, the phenomena of
hope are modes of this complicated form of life.
Before we go overboard in our appreciation for a fascinating
and alluring era and its city, with its fabulous cultural life, both new
and old, we should contemplate its aftermath. The Viennese model
(in the spirit of Franz Werfel) of cultural and artistic sophistication
and inspiration without a decisive commitment to politics and
society ought not be emulated.
The staggering explosion and eventual silence which followed
in Europe, especially in Vienna and Austria in the years after the
turn of the century, cannot be permitted to overtake us in the
decades ahead. In contrast to our Viennese antecedents, let us heed,
in speech and act, Wittgenstein's insight, and shed the political and
social hopelessness of fin-de-siecle Vienna.
