THE HOUSE OF WITTGENSTEIN: A FAMILY AT WAR

THE HOUSE OF WITTGENSTEIN: A FAMILY AT WAR
Author: Alexander Waugh
Copyright 2008
Doubleday
Hardcover $29.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-52060-7
349 pages

As Americans, we are often viewed throughout the world as egocentrically centered.

I have personally experienced this while traveling through central Europe and was surprised and disturbed about my personal lack of knowledge of European history.

So I was drawn to this novel about the Wittgenstein family who were well-known in Austria in the late 19th and their influence into the 20th century.

The Wittgenstein family was known for their wealth, eccentricities, and talent. The combination did not always work harmoniously within the family, but music did seem to have a calming effect on its members. Some of the people who were visitors to their music room were Brahms, Strauss, and Mahler.

Karl Wittgenstein was the patriarch of the family, rising from being a runaway to making a large fortune in the steel and iron industry. He married a wealthy heiress and had eight children who he dreamed of continuing his legacy. Unfortunately, none of his children lived up to his expectations which made his relationships with them extremely difficult. Of the five sons, three committed suicide, one was a concert pianist, and the youngest is remembered as one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. The two surviving sons, although famous and successful, had difficulty with their talent and their relationships with others.

The book encompasses the family from Karl’s early life through the end of the Hapsburg dynasty experiencing both of World Wars and life in Austria during these times. Alexander Waugh is superb when viewing each family member objectively with their faults and gifts and intertwining their personal experiences into the history. Life in Vienna during the turn of the century and with the Hapsburg Empire declining, along with the Austria’s strong relationship with Hungary, makes fascinating reading especially with Germany constantly wanting to reunite and dominate Austria through both wars. The family was constantly threatened by their possible association of being Jewish and their attempts to prove their being non-Jews.

I was intrigued by this family since I remember when watching an episode of MASH years ago, the mention of a pianist who lost an arm during a war. Paul Wittgenstein had continued his career as a left-handed concert pianist who was known throughout the western world. He commissioned works for the left-hand from well-known composers such as Ravel, Prokofiev, and Benjamin Britten. His personal relations with each did not always live up to Paul’s expectation. Also, Paul did not always live up to the composers’ expectations either.

Being this is a biography of a family, there are actual pictures to assist in understanding and visualizing the family, the homes and the architecture, and even the final resting place. Alexander Waugh even has followed the descendants and carefully concludes the family history with their stories.

Alexander Waugh, who is the grandson of Evelyn Waugh, has also written FATHERS AND SONS, CLASSICAL MUSIC: A NEW WAY OF LISTENING, TIME, and GOD. He resides in Somerset, England with his family.

This is definitely a fascinating and readable history of the changes in life in Austria through terrifying times that changed the world.