Abstract:

During World War I The Idea of Europe (1917) did not mean either a geographic or a political unity to Hugo von Hofmannsthal. However, the supranational state of the Habsburg Monarchy functioned for his spiritual “Europe” as a natural point of reference. The focus of this paper is on recent conceptualizations of Europe by authors and historians who are strongly attached to Austria and who unlike their predecessors prefer to localize their concept of Europe. What is the role of travelogues in constructing Europe? The article analyzes literary and rhetoric figures that help to construct a European unity in spite of all declarations of diversity.