From Impression to Epiphany: The Aphorism in the Austrian Jahrhundertwende.

This article investigates the factors that contributed to the spread of aphorisms among Viennese authors at the turn of the 20th century. Aphoristic forms and productivity in the period can be attributed to impression and epiphany. The impressionistic aspect of the aphorism serves the verbal component, the epiphanic aspect holds the disposition toward the anti-ornamental, the purposive, or the critical. Karl Kraus, Peter Altenberg and Hugo von Hofmannsthal exhibit these aspects in their aphorisms.