Tabori e Wiener Schnitzel : la ballata del vecchio asburgico

This essay aims to examine the mitteleuropean aspects within George Tabori’s poetics, especially focusing on the play Die Ballade vom Wiener Schnitzel, which is a small requiem for the Habsburg Era but on the other hand also a commentary on Jewish identity in contemporary Austria. The Schnitzel becomes ironically the symbol of imperial greatness – Tabori compares the shape of the monarchy to a huge cutlet – and turns into a plot device to chart the position of Jewish culture in today’s society and the shadows the past left behind.