Telegrams from the soul

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The miniaturist Peter Altenberg (1859-1919) is a seminal but often neglected figure in the culture of turn-of-the-century Vienna and in twentieth-century Modernism. Altenberg has suffered neglect both because he failed to work in so-called 'major' genres and on account of his addiction to drugs, alcohol, and young girls, yet his marginal status belies his wide impact across a broad spectrum of the arts. Barker's book, the first to attempt a comprehensive survey of Altenberg's life and work, draws heavily on the array of unpublished manuscripts in the United States and Europe, many of them in private collections, and on other long-forgotten archival material.