Xenophobe's Guide to the Austrians

The Xenophobe's Guide

by Louis James

We cannot be moved The Austrian needs lots of persuading to have his traditions tampered with in the name of modernization and efficiency. He is attached to his sausage, his insipid beer, and the young white wine that tastes so remarkably like iron filings. He prefers the familiar, tried, and tested to the novelty, the latter almost certainly being an attempt by persons unknown to make money at his expense.   Kitschy, kitschy, koo Home life for the Austrians is a never-ending quest for Gemütlichkeit or coziness, which is achieved by accumulating objects that run the gamut from the pleasingly aesthetic to the mind-blowingly kitsch.   Austrian autonomy In Austria detonating pretension is a national pastime. It has to do with attitudes to power that date back to an absolutist form of government and with the self-irony developed by people who were (or thought they were) more talented than the authority to which they had to defer.   A grave issue The paradoxical character of the Austrian mingles profoundly conservative attitudes with a flair for innovation and invention. This creative tension usually takes the form of official obstructionism to good ideas, but sometimes the other way round. For example, the population were outraged by Josef II's attempt to make them adopt reusable coffins with flaps on the underside for dropping out the corpses. (The Emperor was forced to retreat, grumbling as he did so about the people's wasteful attitude.)

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Travel, Reference

92 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2000

About the author

Louis James has spent some 25 more or less fruitful years in contemplation of Homo austriacus. Despite being in daily contact with the species, he suspects that it is easier to describe the yeti (on which there is no verifiable information), than the Austrian (on which there is far too much, all of it contradictory). Notwithstanding this difficulty he has conducted many hours of diligent field work in cafés, winecellars, etc., refining his impressions for the present study, and was gratified to discover that many Austrian friends and acquaintances were prepared to assist selflessly with this.

Since settling in Vienna he has written regular reports on the Central European enigma, chiefly in the hope that sooner or later he will discover a new key to it (the old one having been thrown into the Danube some time ago). If, as seems likely, his efforts in this regard are crowned with failure, he anticipates that few will notice the fact but he will be considerably more popular with those who do.

Reviews

[Jurgen Maerschand · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of interesting local language terms, unfortunately buried under too much uninspired humour.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw information on this series somewhere, I said that I wanted to read them all because (a) I love to travel and learn about other cultures and (b) they looked to be funny in a light-hearted way. Someone was kind enough to share this book with me when I was in Sweden this spring and a quick glance convinced me that the series was not how I had pictured it, so I set the book aside without reading it.

Of course, I cannot leave a book unread upon my shelves, and it was a short little thing, so I took a chance on it yesterday. All in all, this was probably one of the better installments in the series that I could have read, since I have been to Austria and was not coming on this cultural guide completely uninformed. It is pretty much a dissection of the Austrian character as it relates to culture, food, shopping, international relations, religion, and the many other things that give a group of people identity. There was a largely tongue-in-cheek tone to the whole thing, sometimes warm and sometimes more clinical in its assessments, but you felt like you got a good overview. What I read gelled with what I had experienced sufficiently to lead me to believe it is pretty accurate, but I don't know that reading it ahead of time would have helped me understand the culture when I traveled there. A snippet in the back talked about how these guides are important if you plan to live in a different country and I think that is the way they would be most useful.

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to visit Austria this summer! So I figured this is a good book to read.

It's such a cute series. I need to somehow get all of these books. I didn't know anything about Austria so I can't talk about the accuracy of this book.

I can say that it's funny, witty, and clinical. I like the style. I'm looking forward to observing what's true and what's not. I'm only going to Vienna so it'll definitely be an experience.

what I'm taking with me:
• The obsession with death and cuteness is apparently the paradox of Austria. I sympathize.
• It seems the entire world is full of complaining and criticizing countries.
• I need to read more about Austrian history.
•CAKES AND COFFEESHOPS!

[Lector Inspector · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and a ~ FREEBIE ~ . Odd, however, that the ONLY links I can find online for "Plundertacshen" (supposed to be plum jam pastries) point to the text of THIS specific eBook.

A quick read and very enjoyable, this volume has encouraged me to collect further titles from the series although I anticipate some shifts in style amongst the various participating authors.

[Sebastian Stabinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was pretty boring. Maybe it's more interesting for people who aren't living in Austria :)

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this, I know I can't stop with just one. I think I have to have them all.

[Tanja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outdated, calls for urgent revision

[Soobie is expired · Rating 1 out of 5]

After a while I went back to reading the Xenophobe's Guides. I was planning to read the ones about Italy's neighbors next and the move freely across the world trying to read through the whole series.

So, I started with the Austrians because they... They start with A and because they're the closest to home: I'd say a couple of hours tops.

I'm afraid this was the worst I've read so far (Italians, Poles, Swedes...) Jeez, it's even worse than the one about Poles and that was bad.

Maybe it's the sense of humor. I don't get it. Maybe it's the author's tone which seems the tone of a bored teacher. And there are tons of spelling mistakes: if you want to add Austrian words to your text, at least check the spelling.

I'll read the one about the French next.

[Wilmington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my 10th book in the Xenophobe's guide series, and it might well be the best I have read so far. Most of the content is really interesting and I didn't detect any blatant mistake or nonsense as in some other books (France, Japan). I decided not to give five stars to any book in this series though because 86 pages really is too short.

[Frau Blücher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was man schon immer über die Ösis wissen wollte, aber sich nicht zu fragen traut... mit einem heftigen Augenzwinkern versehen ;)

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny

[Darnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

These little books are mostly just fine as introductions to stereotypes, but I'm glad I read several or it would look like I just really had it out for the Poles.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, but lacks depth.

[Ieva Upeniece · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve heard about Xenophobe’s Guide series before since one of the books was given to my colleague as a farewell present since she was moving to a different country. And just last week I got an opportunity to borrow one about Austrians, which, of course, is more interesting for me since I’m an expat living in Austria.

You can read my full review here: http://www.notesofabookdragon.com/201...

[Irina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting book. Also there's a funny part and those sarcastic remarks. I've enjoyed it.