Literary Arts
by Tres Lambert, Gettysburg College. Born in 1872 in Baden bei Wien, author, editor, and journalist Hugo Bettauer was no stranger to controversy. His knack for social critique and investigative journalism regularly placed him in direct conflict with powerful people and institutions, making him a lightning rod for cultural and political debate across Austria. His…
By Thomas Antonic The European Tours Between 1979 and 1983, Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), undoubtedly the most influential and famous American poet of the second half of the 20th century, who would celebrate his 100th birthday on June 3, 2026, toured several times through Europe. He was accompanied by his long-term partner and poet in his…
BIAAS grantee Thomas Antonic recently completed a film about Austrian-American Beat poet ruth weiss, One More Step West Is the Sea, which won “Best International Documentary Feature” in the New York Independent Cinema 2021 Awards. Under-acknowledged for much of her artistic life, ruth innovated “Jazz and Poetry” performance. She died in 2020, but recognition of…
with Thomas Antonic Historian Thomas Antonic, who is also a filmmaker, writer, poet, musician, multimedia artist, and a two-time BIAAS grantee, has completed the film One More Step West Is the Sea and a co-edited collection titled ruth weiss: Beat Poetry, Jazz, Art. In this podcast, he discusses the fascinating life of ruth weiss, the Austrian-American…
By Nadine Zimmerli In mid-November of 1822, Washington Irving sat down to “a solitary supper… and a glass of Hungary wine” in Vienna. Irving—America’s first bestselling author of international fame—traversed much of Central Europe in the early 1820s, and he’s a good reminder that early Americans explored Europe beyond the better known destinations of Britain,…